This weeks Pinot Noir tasting consisted of 2 Oregon and 1 French and a California Cabernet Sauvignon. Why did we add a Cab Sav at the end of the tasting? Because we both wanted to make sure our noses still worked. There was no clear winner at the end of this tasting, except for the Cab Sav of course. My original goal was to try 50 Pinot Noirs. My new goal is to make it through 25. Why continue? Well, for one, I'm no quitter, even when it comes to wine I don't enjoy, but I also want to know the mystique, the whys of this grape and how the heck it is so popular! I also will have a better understanding of someone's taste when they say they like Pinot Noir. (So your favorite beer is Coors Light?). Anyhow, on with the tasting notes.
#1- Underwood- from Oregon-no specific appellation, 2015, 13.5% alcohol, screw top cap and priced at $10.99. Small glass tasting- I smelled slight berry, Lise smelled berry dog shampoo. In the small glass we both agreed it was medium-sweet, light in body, we both put the color depth as watery, color hue, red and clarity-clear, fair in balance. It was easier to drink in the smaller glass as there was only a slight tartness, while in the Pinot Noir glass it had a bigger flavor and more tartness. In the larger glass we both smelled roses, Lise described it as a rose that the petals were getting ready to bloom and had just been rained on. It paired well with the strawberry kolache, cheese kolache, I liked it up front with chips and Mike's medium salsa, but it ended badly with wet dog taste. We also tried it with sausage and broccoli quiche and were not impressed. This would be one to drink on its own, or to know what paired with it. It would definitely go with fruit desserts. We both gave it 3 stars in the Pinot glass, 2 stars in the small one.
#2-Firesteed- Willamette Valley Oregon, 2014, 13.4% alcohol, $7.19, cork. We both agreed we would not buy this one again. Watery, clear, ruby in color, low aroma intensity. In the small glass it smelled to me like Fabuloso lavender floor cleaner the day after I mopped the kitchen floor on satillo tiles. Lise got fresh mulch and sanitizer, light and floral. We agreed it was medium sweet, a little tart, fair balance and moderate in flavor intensity. In the Pinot Noir glass I smelled wet forest leaves and alcohol, Lise smelled cooked cherries before you add the sugar to them. In the larger glass it actually went to off dry, and was very unbalanced. We didn't really care for it with any of our food pairings including the kolaches, quiche, brownies, chips & salsa. Lise put in her notes- "Do I have to try more?" It did have a pretty black horse label.
#3- La Grande- from France, 2015, 12.5% alcohol, price $9.99- screw top. This wine had a pale, garnet, slightly hazy look to it, much darker than the other two, so we had some hope. In the small glass, I smelled furniture polish, Lise got earthy. It was off dry, light bodied, with some tannin as it was aged in oak for 6 months. The balance was fair and the flavor moderate. In the larger glass it actually had too much of a floral nose, like walking into Kirklands and smelling all the potpourri, or when you first open up a Fabreeze plug in. In the small glass, I liked it with the red-peppered hummus, but that could be because the hummus overpowered the taste. Lise tried it in the small glass with chips and salsa and said it was bitter and dead fish taste. In both glasses by itself it was wet dog taste for me. In the Pinot glass, the brownie overpowered the wine (a good thing), cherry cheesecake made the wine taste better, too tart for me with the quiche. Lise's comment was, "I thought the French knew wine." This was definitely the least favorite out of the 3, only 1 star rating for both glasses.
When we tasted all 3 side by side in the high ball glasses here were our results, and honestly we really didn't want to do it- Underwood- mop water, Firesteed- dog soap, Le Grande- wet dog. Lise also commented that if she was meeting someone for the first time and they said their favorite wine was Pinot Noir, she would tell them they couldn't be friends.
#4-Fortress Cabernet Sauvignon- 2013, Sonoma, 14.5% alcohol, price $17.98. We only poured this in the big glass. Big black pepper, aromatic, full bodied, smooth, medium tannin with good balance. It was heavenly. Lise joked that we thought it was so good because we had been tasting Pinot Noirs, but it did its job and that was to confirm we could still smell. All three of Pinot Noirs we tasted, we had such a hard time smelling anything. I did promise Lise that once my Pinot adventure was over, we would do some Cab Sav tastings. It gives us something to look forward to!
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