Wine  of the Week
Vintages January 12th Release

Complex & Cedary **+

CHIANTI CLASSICO RISERVA 1997
932889  $26.75
Le Masse di Greve, DOCG 
(Az. Agr. Lanciola) 
(300 Cases) (13.5%) 
Intense deep red colour.  Complex, rich, chocolaty, ripe plum purée nose with fine lime notes.  Fairly rich, harmonious, well structured, dry, baked plums, cedar and chocolate on the palate.  Quite delicious with a fine lingering finish and ready to drink.  Wonderfully accessible.   [Rus Woo] 
 
A Best Buy

Vintage Assessments Home Page

Recent Articles

Archive of National Post Articles

Sign-up Now!

Unrequited Love?
A Continuing Affair with Pinot Noir
Can Big Yields Means Better Flavour?
Michael Vaughan
National Post Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist

Saturday, January 19, 2002

 

It’s upsetting.  Of all the wines to have an affair with, Pinot Noir must be the worst.  I can’t put my finger on how it happened. It’s just that once you’ve tasted a great one, almost everything pales in contrast.  They’re neither big nor bold.  It’s their sensuousness, flavours that caresses the palate leaving you filled with rapture.

It all started more than three decades ago when I first visited Burgundy.  This tiny region is still considered to be the home of what is often referred to as the heartbreak grape.  Of course, things were simpler then, or perhaps I should say cheaper – much, much cheaper.  The very best went for under $10 a bottle!  Today, we are talking about $200+ at Vintages.  And what’s worse is that some of these Burgundies won’t even kindle a flame, never mind start a fire. 

I was reminded of all this while tasting a number of new Pinot Noirs at this month’s Vintages release.  I had hoped that one of the $49.95 Burgundies might ignite some enthusiasm. But that was not to be.  The 1998 Gevrey-Chambertin is hard and tart. And while the youthful 1999 Vosne Romanée has a decent dose of dried red cherry fruit, it needs another two years of repose before reaching its pinnacle of drinkability.

Don’t get me wrong, good well-priced Burgundy still exists and we’ve even occasionally seen it in Vintages. Trouble is, unless the LCBO gets serious and sends its most experienced buyers to trade events like Les Grands Jours de Bourgogne; we’re likely to continue getting the chaff as opposed to wheat.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is catching up - fast.  While California and Chile has made some moves, it’s Oregon that’s given its heart and soul to this grape. Today there are hundreds of Oregon Pinot Noirs to choose from.  Unfortunately, they too are no longer a dime a dozen.  The good news is that Vintages is featuring a very good buy Firesteed 1998 Pinot Noir at $19.95. This medium-light bodied red focuses on bright cherry fruit flavours with spicy, slightly smoky notes that linger on the finish.

I was amazed to discover that Firesteed is a virtual winery.  It owns no vineyards, nor production facilities.  It was created in 1992 by Howard Rossbach who swore that he could produce tasty and yet affordable Pinot Noir – i.e. costing $10 US a bottle.  He contracts with growers to buy grapes and has Oregon’s Flynn Vineyards custom crush, vinify and bottle his wares.  His current 50,000 cases are nothing to sneeze at.  Note that his Firesteed 2000 Pinot Gris won the only Gold varietal medal in 2001 Pacific Northwest Enological competition.

Understanding how Rossbach got as much ripe fruit into his Pinot Noir defies conventional wisdom. Most experts rate 1998 as “excellent”.  It comes on the heels of the overly abundant, and somewhat diluted 1997’s.  And yet, many of the 1998’s are surprisingly hard despite the excellent Fall weather and very low crop levels.

The reason?  “We got nailed with some cool wet weather just after the early flowering really reduced the yields,” explains Rossbach.  “While most high profile wineries had already reduced potential crop levels, we didn’t.  And oddly enough,  it paid off.”

 

“The very warm, dry autumn meant that vines with these very low yields had to be picked early because of rapidly escalating sugar levels (the lower the yield, the more rapidly the grapes ripen).  In other words, they were picked before they ripened physiologically – before the fruit flavours had a chance to fully evolve.  Meanwhile our more heavily cropped Pinot Noir ripened more slowly permitting its flavours to fully develop.  It only has 12.4% alcohol vs 14% plus.”

To discover more, let me recommend the just-published Wines of the Pacific Northwest by Lisa Sara Hall, an indispensable guide is for anyone wanting to explore the wines of this area.  There are excellent thumbnail sketches of individual Washington and Oregon wineries, region.  Published by Mitchell Beazley, it sells for $50.

Other fine Pinot Noir buys exist.  From Chile’s Maipo Valley Undurraga 2000 Pinot Noir ($11.70 at Vintages) is a winner with its bright, somewhat light-bodied, tangy, ripe cherry flavours. 

Those wanting my next recommendation will have to check out the Vintages stores featuring “In Store Discoveries.”  Under this pernicious program, a handful of items are surreptitiously released every month.  Up until last March, these were known as “Selected Distribution” and appeared in the Vintages Catalogue .  Now, much to the supplier’s chagrin, they’re hidden and can only be found on my website.

As New Zealand has become the world’s best producer of reasonably priced Pinot Noir, the 50 cases of Saint Clair 2000 Doctor’s Creek Pinot Noir at $19.95 should not be missed. Born in New Zealand’s Marlborough region, it’s tangy, medium bodied, faintly cedary, spicy, cranberry-dried cherry-berry flavours hit the spot.  Perfect with poultry or perhaps salmon, it epitomizes the remarkable values coming out of New Zealand.

Last but not least, I had my fancy tickled by one of Ontario’s leading producers. Last week’s launch of 1998 reserve reds by co-founder/winemaker Karl Kaiser saw a trio of fine new Pinot Noirs. Of the group, my favourite was the very toasty-smoky-earthy Inniskillin 1998 Montague Vineyard Pinot Noir ($29.95), which was aged for 14 months in new French oak.  The extremely low yields (1.2 tons per hectare) have produced classic flavours and a creamy, richness in the mouth.  While the earthy complexity may not be for everyone, its idiosyncratic Pinot Noir flavours are reminiscent of what initially seduced me so many decades ago.


Karl Kaiser

 

Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada 2004
Prior written permission is required for any form of reproduction
 (electronic or other wise) and or quotation.
Contact Michael Vaughan at
mbv@total.net