WTN: 2005 Loring Wine Company Brousseau Vineyard Pinot Noir, Chalone AVA

This Pinot Noir came in screwcap and weighed in at 13.6% alcohol.
I probably opened it too early but I'm beginning to see Bucko's point. I had considered opening several different wines that night--a chardonnay that might be already over-the-hill, a St. Innocent Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir, and decided on the spur of the moment to open this Loring wine. I was distracted and sat down to sip it with a slice of ham and didn't remember wwhat I had opened. As I tasted it I mused "Was it a Syrah? It seemed like it might be, but I had very few bottles of Syrah on hand (not counting some Shiraz from several years ago). It was a bit peppery and seemed full-bodied. Was it a Spanish red? Puzzled, I went to the bottle and flashed "It's a Pinot Noir!" So maybe some Loring wines, especially at a young age, do come across as Syrah-like. Will hold the Gary's Vineyard bottles for a couple more years.
How does Brian achieve such power in his wines? Is it long hang time? warm fermentation? protracted contact with the skins?
Dark cherry, pepper and structure to spare. Long, long finish. A Pinot to sink your teeth into.

[David M. Bueker]

You know I think this old saw about Brian's Pinot tasting like Syrah has run its course.

I've become a bit of a student of California Pinot over the last few years, and I also have had quite a bit of Syrah from the same areas. They taste nothing alike. The 2005s from Loring and Pali, and A. P. Vin are some of the most nuanced wines Brian and Andrew Vignello have ever made. They taste like Pinot Noir, and have none of the alcoholic heat that marred 2004 for me.

I've not once had a Pinot from the Santa Maria Valley, Chalone or Santa Rita Hills that tasted of bacon fat or road tar. When they taste like very ripe fruit it's black cherry and raspberry. The 2005s even have some strawberry notes in there.

I just don't see it.

You know I think this old saw about Brian's Pinot tasting like Syrah has run its course.

I've become a bit of a student of California Pinot over the last few years, and I also have had quite a bit of Syrah from the same areas. They taste nothing alike. The 2005s from Loring and Pali, and A. P. Vin are some of the most nuanced wines Brian and Andrew Vignello have ever made. They taste like Pinot Noir, and have none of the alcoholic heat that marred 2004 for me.

I've not once had a Pinot from the Santa Maria Valley, Chalone or Santa Rita Hills that tasted of bacon fat or road tar. When they taste like very ripe fruit it's black cherry and raspberry. The 2005s even have some strawberry notes in there.

I just don't see it.

David, I agree that calling his wines Syrah can be a facile put-down, but let me relate a very recent experience of my own. On Sat., we opened a number of different wines for some friends. Among them were a '98 Byron Pinot Noir and a '99 Siduri Pisoni Vyd Pinot Noir. The Byron was lightweight and ethereal, showing smoke and lightish strawberry fruit; the Siduri was dense and alcoholic, tasting mostly of blackberry and cherry cough syrup (seriously! I got an overwhelming flashback of my last encounter with Robitussin). Had I been tasting those two wines blind, the Byron I would have pegged as PN in an instant. The Siduri? It was too heavy, too alcoholic and had the wrong fruit profile to suggest PN to me. Perhaps I've just been improperly calibrated and haven't tried those Leroy CdVs that would be deadringers for the Siduri -- I just don't know.

I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but I can honestly tell you that that Siduri would've recalled to me an Aussie Shiraz a lot more readily than a Pinot Noir from anywhere.

Just my $0.02,
Mark Lipton

[David M. Bueker]

The thing I find facile is that people associate high alcohol with syrah. No California Pinot has the density and extract of Aussie Shiraz, and that's why the alcohol sticks out at 14.5% or so rather than being able to handle the higher alcohol that some Aussie Shiraz can. (Note I say some...not all)

Gentlemen,

If I may weigh in here as a Pinot grower and maker, I think the weather under which the grapes ripen has much to do with style of wine. Warm regions make fat, low acid, high alcohol wines because there are more heat units and sun, and a longer growing season in which to ripen the fruit. As the grapes ripen, they lose acidity and gain sugar. Growers hope that the flavor development will coincide with the ideal fruit acid/sugar balance. In warm climates the grapes achieve physiological maturity before they achieve phenolic maturity. I am defining "physiological maturity" as the correct sugar/acid/pH balance that indicates ripeness and time to harvest, and phenolic maturity as ripe skins (tannins) and full flavor development in the grapes. If one harvests at physiological maturity in a warm climate, the result is a wine that has all the right numbers in the lab, but lacks rich flavors and a mid-palate impression and long finish (and ageability) In a warm climate, if one hangs the grapes past physiological maturity to achieve phenolic maturity, one is confronted in the winery with over-ripe fruit physiologically, that does at least have ripe tannins and full flavors. But now the winemaker is dealing with grapes that have too much sugar (potential alcohol in a dry wine) and too low acidity. So they add tartaric acid to achieve the balance that nature would have provided naturally in a cooler climate, and end up with a wine that has very sweet jammy fruit flavors and a thick syrupy texture. Some folks like this style of wine. They don't age well, but who cares if you want something to drink soon that offers big flavors and big palate impression.

If you like wines with natural acidity and bright fresh fruit flavors and lower alcohol, stick with cool climate wines. Think Oregon, New York, Michigan, New Zeeland, Northern Italy, Germany, and of course most of northern and western France. If you like the type of wine described above, buy California, Australia, Chile, and most of Spain.

The reason people think some CA Pinots taste like Syrah is not the taste per se. It is the alcoholic syrupy texture that throws folks who are used to more classical northern expressions of Pinot which emphasize delicacy, finesse, and complexity.

James G. Lester
Wyncroft, LLC

Gentlemen,

If I may weigh in here as a Pinot grower and maker, I think the weather under which the grapes ripen has much to do with style of wine.

Absolutely, Jim. But, within the context of CA Pinot Noir there is more to be taken into account. For instance, the two Pinots that I discuss were both from the Central Coast, albeit from different years. More to the point, one can visit neighboring wineries in the Russian River Valley and get a tightly knit, fresh, varietally coreect Pinot Noir at one and a syrupy, jammy thing passing for Pinot at the other. Same climate, same terroir. Part of it, as you say, is choosing to pick sur maturité, but I have also heard stories of vineyard management practices from various winemakers that make me think that some of it is controllable in the field. That being said, I don't expect to be buying much Pinot from the Central Valley of CA or the Languedoc.

Mark Lipton

Mark,

Well put. Do you grow grapes??

In CA it's the timing of harvest that determines wine style as you noted. Some hang longer and lose acidity in favor of higher alcohol, fuller body, and the inevitable cherry cola flavors of raisined fruit. This, I believe, is a market consideration, what with all those folks out there raised on Coca Cola!! Thankfully the market is realizing that Pinot needs cool climates to achieve greatness. It is just not a grape like Grenache!

Jim Lester

[David M. Bueker]

But now the term "syrupy" comes into play. There's nothing even remotely viscous about these Central Coast Pinots. Alcoholic I'll buy (though many are under 14% in 2005), but syrupy implies viscosity, and the wines may be full bodied, but they are no more viscous than any other wine. Now trockenbeerenauslese...that's viscous.

I agree with David here. The Brousseau Vineyard wine was not syrupy, but it was powerful and full-bodied and somewhat peppery.

But now the term "syrupy" comes into play. There's nothing even remotely viscous about these Central Coast Pinots. Alcoholic I'll buy (though many are under 14% in 2005), but syrupy implies viscosity, and the wines may be full bodied, but they are no more viscous than any other wine. Now trockenbeerenauslese...that's viscous.

I admit that I didn't get a viscometer measurement, but the subjective mouthfeel of the wines is definitely that of a more viscous wine, just as I get with Turley Zins and young CdPs (I'm sure that most Cult Cabs would give it to me, too, but I need to hang out with a more well-heeled crowd to estalish that). OTOH, it might just be the power of suggestion: when a wine tastes like Robitussin to me, it's hard not to think of it as syrupy

Speaking as a chemist now, there's no reason why a more alcoholic wine should be more viscous, since ethanol is less viscous than water. However, as you increase dry extract, I'd imagine that viscosity does go up, though (as you point out) nowehere near that of a TBA.

Mark Lipton

Mark,

Well put. Do you grow grapes??

No. but I consume them! In all seriousness, I've never farmed grapes, but I have spent quite a bit of time visiting wineries and talking to the staff about viticulture. In the end, I just don't care as much about getting all the details of remontage vs. pigeage or Alliers vs. Nevers. OTOH, with the wines that I find myself more and more drawn to, the winemakers themselves tell you that the wines are made in the vineyards, so that is where a lot of my attention is focused.

Mark Lipton

FWIW, I recently had a chance to talk about the '06 vintage (while sampling some excellent '05s) with two Calipinot producers and as much as they love the '04s(which can show some heat) and the '05s they both felt that the '06 vintage will combine the best features of both. As James and others noted, the weather does make a difference.

The Lorings that I've tried didn't taste like Syrah to me, especially the given the heft of Syrahs coming out of CA recently.

The Loring Syrah, btw, was a little Pinotesque; the 200% new oak might have had something to do with that.