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Tuesday Night Tasting Events: July 26th
California vs. Oregon Pinot Noir
After a couple weeks of summer break the masses returned to Rancho Cellars for a Tuesday night focus of Pinot Noir emanating from local producers up and down the US west coast. I had spent an extraordinary week in Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley earlier in the month so this was an opportunity to swap stories, compare, contrast and ultimately decipher within the chosen lineup to whom, California or Oregon, should the prize of best Pinot Noir be granted.
The Willamette Valley is a great wine country visit; wait, it is also a Pinot lovers dream-place to visit, and if you’re like me and need to switch to a white wine every now and then you must visit for the outstanding Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris at the offering. This was my first visit to Oregon and recently I’ve felt, rather tasted, that it is becoming the holy grail of new world Pinot Noir. Not to say that we don’t have exceptional examples here in California, Monterey County’s Santa Lucia Highlands is right up there with Oregon in my book, yet the charismatic relation to classic Red Burgundy appears to be much closer to the north. It’s no coincidence that both the Willamette Valley and Burgundy share latitude around the 45th degree, folks saw the similarities and have dug in, literally.
At evenings close it was time to see what our oenophile audience thought in terms of the state-to-state Pinot showdown. First, we sought the best Californian Pinot tasted, with the 2001 Longoria Mt. Carmel Pinot Noir ($52) from Santa Barbara’s Santa Rita Hills narrowly beating out the 2000 Skewis Floodgate Vineyard ($50) from Mendocino’s Anderson Valley. The food pairings prepared by our esteemed in-house chef Janet, brought the pleasure intensity level to the max with Monterey Bay salmon gravlox atop rye bread reminding us of how perfect salmon and Pinot meld, and in this instance the Longoria exhibited aromas of cherry and subtle berry-spice, with some mint cherry tones in the mouth and that soft earthy finish with just a touch of vanilla from the oak cooperage lingering on and on.
For the Oregon side of the night it was the 1999 Ponzi Vineyards Reserve Willamette Valley ($68.75) that showed itself as the best, being paired with a roasted Chiogga beet melted under Fontina cheese and adorned with green onions on crustini, beautifully extenuating the rich and meaty flavor of the wine, with dark red-fruits and oak tones just beginning to integrate along side the still present tannins. Dick Ponzi and his daughter Luisa have created a wine to last the ages—I give the ’99 another 5 years at least before we see its peak performance come through.
Recent interest in the region has been spawned by fleeing California winemakers looking for cheaper alternatives, the ‘Sideways’ affect in relation to Pinot Noir and a 5-year string of great vintage for nearly all the grapes grown. New federal AVAs (American Viticultural Area) have been demarcated within the valley itself and the influx of wine-enthused tourism is beginning to spawn the opening of more and more tasting rooms from wineries never really anticipating such a public demand for visitation rights. All said I firmly believe that Oregon, while young in its ways, is on the path to grandeur and is already crafting world-class wine, often times far better than its neighbor to the south.
Other notable in-stock Pinot Noir from the tasting event:
1998 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir Laurène Oregon $68.75
2000 Argyle Pinot Noir Nuthouse Willamette Valley, Oregon $51.25
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