The Southwest Voice

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I’ve been a teacher literally most of my life. Just ask my long-suffering friends and family who always heard much more than they ever wanted to know when they dared to ask me even the simplest of questions! So it is with trepidation that I tackle some inquiries today about Pinot Noir, one of the great wines of the world. I’m hesitant because I don’t want to turn you off. I want you to love this varietal as much as I do.

I try to write this column mostly for people who are fairly new to the wine world, and that’s the general American public. Europeans drink far more wine than we do. Pinot questions usually come from connoisseurs, so let’s see if we can strike a proper balance and elucidate both groups.

“...You wrote last week about a Pinot Festival — why a special event to showcase just one wine? There are many delicious different California wines. None of us drink just one wine. Why all the fuss over Pinot Noir?” I also received several requests for my opinion as to the best wines I found at the event I was describing. Yes, indeed, glad to oblige!

Pinot Noir is a brilliant, clear red wine that is the only varietal used to make the great French Burgundies. Most of the other red wines you know are deeper and darker and denser reds into which other wines are often blended to achieve desired results. Pinot is always Pinot. Pinot Noir, not Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Meunier — those are lesser mutations which make lighter but sometimes very pleasant quaffing wines. People talking “Pinot” are talking about Pinot Noir only.

And dedicated wine lovers talk about them a lot. It used to be because they were so elusive and the really good ones were hard to find. It is a very difficult grape to handle and to make into really good wine. It has been gaining ground on the much more popular Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay in this decade, thanks mostly to the popularity of the movie “Sideways” a few years ago. Remember the scene in the restaurant where Virginia Madsen is enthralling Paul Giamatti ( and everyone else in the theater) as she extols the virtues of this wine? Wow!

I first felt like that (enraptured) back in the early ’70s when I ordered a bottle of Pinot Noir to accompany lunch at old Tam O’Shanter. I took a sip and was stunned. I had liquid velvet in my glass. I thought I now knew what all the fuss was about — there is something to this wine stuff!

Over the years and over many glasses of many other wines, I found similar revelations from many other wine lovers. Pinot, Pinot, Pinot was always the ultimate, mind-bending experience. Take a poll of winemakers and discover how many are really “closet” Pinot Noir wannabes, starting with the late and greatest of the Napa Valley Cabernet winemakers, Andre Tschelistchev.

What is it about this wine?

Now, because I promised, here is my list of the best of the many great Pinots I tasted at last month’s World of Pinot on the Central Coast: Calera, Cima Collina, The Donum Estate, Fort Ross, Kosta Brown, Martinelli, Paul Hobbs, Paul Lato, Roar, Sea Smoke, Segue, Siduri, Sinor-LaVallee and Talley. All of these are hard to find, but keep your eyes open while traveling. Go on the Internet. I’ll conclude my rant about Pinot next time by telling you what very good ones you can find.
 

Questions? Comments? Send Ann e-mail at: acierley@etcrier.net

Coming Event

May 9 — Cal State Bakersfield’s 12th annual Party in the Park wine tasting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Alumni Park on campus. Cost is $40 per person in advance and will treat you to tastings from over 50 wineries, great hors d'ouvres, too. Get your tickets early — they always sell out! To RSVP or for more information, call 654-3211.