2007 Candia Vineyards Noiret. Very impressive.
For those of you who are curious about new and undiscovered wines, and I know there are at least a few of you who, like me, have cellars full enough of carefully selected wine to last the rest of our lives, try and find some Noiret.
Noiret was developed a decade or so ago by Professor Bruce Reisch up at Cornell and was released and named in 2006. It’s the most promising hybrid developed in the Finger Lakes. I have tasted 3 bottles from the half case I bought last Sunday, and am really stunned by the quality of this very young wine from very young vines. The flavor is unique, with no trace of the worst French-American hybrid faults. Bob Dombroski made it in a very light style, I suspect so he could start selling it as soon as possible, but it is a lovely purple. It is also bone dry, with no sugar left to hide any hybrid characteristics.
The nose is white pepper, some dark bramble fruit, with a nice hint of greenish strawberry. It developed nicely in the glass, and seemed to loosen up in the bottle after an hour or so. A somewhat thin, spiky spectrum of tastes and smells, but very pleasant.
Though in had minimal skin contact, and was “cool” fermented in small batches, there is a fine tannic backbone that held the wine together overnight in the glass, covered. There was no hint of maderization. It went very well with simple Swiss Steaks and mushroom gravy.
The next night, after enjoying half a bottle, I tried blending Noiret with the house reds I keep on the shelf. A little Killer Juice Cabernet was a terrible mistake, as the Cab overpowered the Noiret. Made me think of the description of Cab as being like your obnoxious cousin Willy, who comes to visit for a weekend and then moves it to your guest room for the winter, washing his sox and underwear in the bathroom sink and drying them over the shower curtain, stinking up the hose with cheap cigars and scaring the cat with his snoring.
Pinot Evil Pinot Noir mixed with Noiret to produce a muddle. Not horrible, but what the hell was it?
Black Box Merlot, one part to two parts Noiret was very pleasant. The blend was harmonious, with a combination of fruit that seemed to complement one another, and enough tannin to achieve a lovely mouth feel.
All in all, Candia Noiret is very interesting. I think the grape has a great future, and I await further efforts, and especially blends.