Don's Gillette's Wine Blog
Musings from our store's resident wine guru
Don has over thirty years experience in the wine industry. For the last eighteen years his attention has been focused on the growing local industry. Don has a large following of customers who search out his opinions (never in short supply!) on new releases and on what's currently most distinctive on our shelves. Others seek his insights on wineries and trends that are still under the radar. Read Don's full bio...
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Pinot Noir: Regional Character as the Winemaker's Canvas...part one
I was tasting a Carneros Pinot at work the other day, one with what I would call authentic regional personality: in this case, lots of Bing cherry, some smoke, etc. It got me thinking about how regional terroir forms a framework for the winemaker. Both as something to which he must adapt and as a distinctive set of tools with which he can, at times, create beauty.
I spent my train ride home trying mentally to subtract-out the vintner's contribution and see more clearly the clay from which he sculpts his wine. This isn't easy and probably isn't completely possible, as the grower and the grape clones and the other variables all have their influence, no matter how subtly.
What will follow is a list of impressions. How I identify regional character. It is a picture I see in its more generic forms and in its most sophisticated expressions. I imagine the former as fruit character (bright red, dark blue); mouth feel (mostly zesty, mostly creamy); typical spice notes (roses, black tea, pink peppercorns) and the like. I see the later in a much more specific way, recalling how the talented have shaped memorable examples.
I think that the grander the fruit, the broader the options for the decision maker. Successful decisions are copied of course. Something that works can become the fashion and maybe later, the standard. Barrel A or B or C, with Pinot from region X, may produce a smokier wine; or a gamier one; or a wine with aromas of sweet roasted grain. If a technique proves more "comfortable" with the fruit at hand, its general acceptance may follow, to become part of the regional character as well.
California Pinot Noir is a "work in progress" of course, but I think it would be a good mental exercise to try to briefly describe the differences (so far as they are yet established) between our various "slopes of gold". I will try to give a description of what I think is generically to be expected and also of what is sometimes accomplished.
Next week: California Pinot regions, north to south...