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Winemakers Describe Pinot Noir in California and Oregon
I would say Pinot Noir is a very elegant, complex wine. It's very long on the palate and that's something I'm really focusing on because Pinot Noir gives you these extra flavors. But if you're not aware of it, you will not see it. It's not a wine that jumps out at you. You have to go and get the wine. Pinot Noir is a delicate wine compared to, say, more charismatic and powerful grapes like Syrah or Cabernet, where minor imbalances in the wines are hardly noticed. With Pinot Noir it's a kind of make or break experience. So if a Pinot has great harmony and character then it's probably the most sensually complete wine of red wines. It really appeals to a lot of people on a very visceral level, not an intellectual level. Pinot Noir grabs your heart; I think that's why it's so important. Rosemary's Vineyard Pinot Noir -- I generally think of it as a wine that has a lot of depth of flavor, a lot of rich, good dark black fruit character, maybe some plum -- but really very sappy fruit. It is soft, elegant on the palate and it strikes a nice balance between having this big sweet fruit but a nice lightness and elegance on the palate. And in that sense it really epitomizes what we strive to do from a winemaking standpoint, which is to bring the fruitiness and the approachability that you get in California with the elegance and the complexity that we really love in French wines. Out of the Carneros I get Pinot Noir with bright cherry flavors, crisp acidity and good structure. Out of Russian River it's more plum and rounder tannins in the mouth. And the two go together into our Sonoma County blend to create a wine that's very fruit forward, with cherries and berries and plums. It's very easy to drink with soft tannins. I would say offhand the Russian River makes very bright, forward fruit, a very polished, elegant Pinot Noir. The Santa Barbara County is a little more rustic. It's more Burgundian style, whatever that means; that's a dangerous generality. But it certainly has very juicy, complex fruit, a lot of spicy elements to it, earthy, spicy, rustic kind of elements. And then the Carneros is really quite intense, smoky, very dark-nosed. It's a very concentrated wine. To me the really interesting thing about the Pinot Noir from our region is the very complete middle body of the wine. I think that sometimes Pinot Noir is one-dimensional. The very beginning of the wine may be very good or maybe the very end of the wine. But we have this wonderful sort of raspberry character in the wine. The nose has a wonderful raspberry aroma. There's a very broad middle palate to the wine and a wonderful finish. In this cool growing climate, we have very good acidity, so the wines are very well balanced. Some people say Pinot Noir is a little bit decadent. You know, there's sort of an earthiness to the wine. Sometimes there's sort of a mushroom component or a compost component, sort of a forest floor aroma. But it's very earthy, and I think that sort of earthiness is the signature of a good Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir seems to be very much connected with nature and with the earth. Our Camp Meeting Ridge Pinot Noirs are generally more intense, with very dark fruit. You'll get flavors of Indian spice. A lot of this has to do with our climate. Some has to do with the way our vines ripen, the amount of hang time. And they have bigger tannins than what you're used to in many parts of California. And most people who have our wines will classify them from Camp Meeting Ridge as more Burgundian style -- more earthy. |