Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the next installment of the Carpe Vinum Friday Tasting Notes Delivered On Thursday In the Form of a Newsletter! This being the newsletter in question, here comes the theme for the week’s tasting. Are you ready for this? It’s Pinot! Pinot! Pinot! When you read that you should be saying it in a high voice while using your fingers as makeshift pistols. The wine gunslinger “Pinot! Pinot! Pinot!”. Why the sudden penchant for violence? Because it’s the Pinot Noir Shootout! It’s time for the showdown. This town ain’t big enough for all this Pinot, so I reckon we best be on our way to figure out who stays and who goes. And just whose side we’re on. Ya reckon? I reckon so.

There are many wines in the world, but there are few that emote the same sensuality that the Pinot Noir does. It is a delicate and finicky grape that can be grown everywhere except where it is terribly warm yet takes careful vineyard management and a delicate hand in the winery to produce this bottled art. It blooms early so it is prone to frost. It is particularly susceptible to all of the grapevine diseases. Fermentation tends to be problematic, and it can end up fermenting too quickly, and apparently boiling over. Also the skins are thin, so achieving color to the wine can also pose some problems. Also, the grape variety itself is prone to mutation. We’ve got Pinot Gris, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc to prove that. But on top of that, there are 46 recognized clones in Burgundy alone, and the possibility of up to a thousand more worldwide, which can lead to some unpredictable results. I think I’m starting to see why it costs so much.

Pinot Noir does better in somewhat cooler climates. It’s planted in almost every grape-growing region worldwide, but has a special place in a few different wine regions. Of course, it all starts in Burgundy. There is some indication that the Pinot Noir had been cultivated in Burgundy as long ago as the Fourth Century, and the Romans knew of it in the First Century. Even still, the Burgundy tends to be the benchmark for Pinot Noir production as they’ve been making elegant wines there for centuries.

There have been a few up-and-comers recently that have challenged Burgundy’s claim to supremacy. Oregon, our own backyard vineyard, has been making some spectacular Pinots for almost the last 40 years. Sure that seems like nothing compared to 16 centuries of vine growth, but you have to start somewhere, right? Then we’ve got California. They have been producing Pinots down there for quite a few years and, if I remember correctly, have more acres planted to Pinot that Oregon does. Not that we won’t catch up, right?

From there we hear the buzz across the Pacific about the burgeoning Pinot scene in New Zealand. The climate is very similar to Oregon, and often winemakers there and winemakers here will trade off to work on each others’ harvests, considering the seasons are staggered. Also, not far from New Zealand (in the grand scheme of things) we have Australia. Most of the Aussie continent is too warm for growing Pinot of any complexity, but there is that island of Tasmania to the south that has apparently been doing Pinot quite well. Also, at least from the perspective of the tasting tomorrow, there’s Chile. I hadn’t really heard much about Chilean Pinot Noir, as most of the plantings down there are dedicated to other varieties. I’ve heard some good things about this one I found, so we’ll see how it rates against the rest of the world. In the shootout. At the showdown. Maybe we’ll find that this town is big enough after all.

So Friday, October 19th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Pinots of the World!!!
Cono Sur 2007 Pinot Noir, Valle Central, Chile
Tamar Ridge 2006 “Devil’s Corner” Pinot Noir, Tasmania, Australia
Hunter’s 2004 Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand
Saintsbury 2006 Pinot Noir “Garnet”, Carneros, California
Kudos 2005 Pinot Noir, Oregon

Pinot!!! Pinot!!! Pinot!!!
Adelsheim 2006 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Francois Gay 2005 Chorey les Beaune, Bourgogne, France

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.

Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Spoooky Halloween Tasting!

M