27 Pinot Noirs Blind at Freedom Run

Alan Kerr, our perennial chef from MOCOOL, crossed the border to join me for a blind tasting of Pinot Noir Sunday night at Freedom Run Winery in Niagara County, NY. The event was set up through a loosely organized FB group called Buffalo/Niagara Winos, organized by Bryan Calandrelli, winemaker and Kurt Guba, cellarmaster, at Freedom Run. This was the second such event. The first, about a month ago, was simply red wines and a lot of fun. The next event is to be Cab Franc, but no date set. On the way to the event, Alan and I stopped at my friend Don Demaison’s, to encourage Don to attend, which he did. Don is in the process of starting up the newest winery in the area, aptly named Long Cliff.

We arrived at the designated 6PM and were the first people there, but folks started wandering in shortly. A nice spread of cheeses and other wine friendly munchoids were on the tasting bar and we all sipped some whites to get in the mood. One of these was a “mystery white” that I brought along brown bagged and asked folks to try to identify. It was dry, crisp and aromatic, and guesses of Riesling, Gewurtz and Muscat were made. The wine was a 2010 blend of 70% Valvin Muscat (a new hybrid developed by Cornell) and 30% Riesling. The wine was made by an 83-year old friend from grapes grown in his back yard. We also had some of Freedom Run’s Rieslings from recent vintages (all quite nice) and 2009 Arrowhead Springs Chardonnay, which was brought by Duncan and Robin Ross, the winery owners and neighbors of Freedom Run. As I’ve done at other events, I brought my camera, but neglected to use it.

We all loaded up with munchoids and seated ourselves. Tables were set up in a square with the pourers working their way around the center. Three wines were poured in a flight and after every two flights, the wines were revealed. Strangely, the wines were numbered 0-26. An informal and fun scoring sheet was supplied asking the participants to circle such as: (Over/Under 13.55%); (Old World/New World); (Slutty/Snobby); (Burgundy/Oregon/California/Niagara/New Zealand/Chile/Other) and space to write “Overall Impression”. When the bags were removed, no scores were tabulated, but just a show of hands and discussions of impressions. The following are my impressions of some of the wines.

2007 Tawes – Niagara Peninsula, Ontario (brought by Alan) – plums on the nose, a full, long, full finish, meaty.
2006 Stone Wolf, Oregon (I brought this) – dusty, very tannic on the mid-palate, needs more age (tasted again later and it was opening up).
2007 Freedom Run – Niagara County, NY – black cherry, smoke, med-long finish, good acid/tannin balance.
2009 Domaine Chofflet-Valdenaire Givry, Burgundy – This was in the same flight as the previous wine and tasted almost the same, perhaps a bit less intense, but I was amazed at the similarities.
2009 Bryan’s – juicy, medium finish.
2009 Hart’s – the lightest wine poured – almost a rosé, clean, light bodied, medium finish.
2006 Louis Jadot Volnay Clos de la Barre Monopole, Burgundy, – complex nose (cloves?), unbalanced, sharp on the front of the tongue.
1998 Chauvenet-Chopin Nuits-Saint-Georges Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy – a bit weak on the nose, turning brownish and cloudy (should have been decanted), but a very long, full finish (I like this a lot).
2010 Arrowhead Springs Leeland Vineyard – Niagara County, NY – plums, dark, medium finish.
2005 Osprey – North Fork, Long Island – deep color, complex nose of spice and oak, very long, full finish. I guessed Burgundy.
2007 Coyote Run Black Paw – St. Davids, Ont. – Deep purple, seems closed down, medium long finish
2007 Coyote Run Red Paw – St. Davids, Ont. – Light garnet, good balance, long finish
1999 Domaine Paul Garaudet Monthelie – some bricking and sediment, showing some age, soft tannins, long, full finish - nice.
2008 Pommard (neglected to note the producer) – light, soft, short finish
2009 Blackstone – California – cherry coke, short finish
2006 Koenzelmann – Ontario producer, but Non-VQA wine (imported grapes?) – over the top fruit forward.
There were several more wines, some with flaws. What was really surprising was how well the Niagara Escarpment wines, from both sides of the border, showed. I had a lot of fun and it was nice to share the evening with Alan.

[David M. Bueker]

Sounds like an interesting event. Thanks for posting.

Howie,
Was the 2006 Stone Wolf Linda's Willamette Valley bottling or one of her other cuvees?
Thanks,
Bill

It was the Willamette Valley. I have a few more of her PNs cellared.

Thanks for the report, Howie. I used to travel regularly to Buffalo, but haven't been able to recently, so I'm out of touch with all the changes on the escarpment. The last time I went around, Warm Lake was still going strong... I'll need to make an effort to check out the new places.

Nothing from the Finger Lakes? You need to pick your FL PN carefully, but there are some nice ones (e.g. recent vintages of Heart & Hands, Damiani, Ravines come to mind). Especially if you can find someone who doesn't over oak, which can be a problem even on the reserve bottlings of the better producers.

I remember having the Konzelmann PN when visiting Niagara and thinking it was very Germanic (not a complement - yes and I know there is some good German PN out there). Oddly, Hermann Wiemer's PN was like this in the past, but it has improved quite a bit in recent vintages.

I was also surprised at nothing from the Finger Lakes and pleasantly surprised at the quality of the one from Long Island. I've heard good things about Heart & Hands - will have to track down a bottle.

Hi Howie,
Long Island doesn’t produce much Pinot Noir wine, there are only a few producers that do. For the most part it goes into rosé or sparklers. In the years that they do produce varietal Long Island Pinot Noir wines, when young, for the most part, I find what I call the fruity “bubblegum” or “Bazooka” factor pretty much “center stage”. But give them time in the cellar; (6 plus years) they become much more evolved, balanced, elegant and refined.
Osprey’s Dominion, Castello di Borghese, Jamesport, and Laurel Lake when given the opportunity (if nature allows), do a pretty good job with Long Island’s Pinot Noir.
Just recently, McCall, a grower (with 14 years of experience with growing Pinot Noir and Merlot on Long Island’s East End in Cutchogue) who I believe holds the title of having the largest acreage of Pinot Noir (11 areas) on Long Island, in the summer of 2010 became a producer. Definitely someone to look out for!

Salute