WTN: Pinot Noirs from all over except Burgundy

Another one of those lunches that makes it really difficult to get back to the office. Pinot Noir theme excluding Burgundy. Venue was Cafe Ysabel with a thick cream of mushroom soup and stewed oxtail.

Bott-Geyl Apoline Pinot Noir Alsace 2002 - Everyone's first PN from Alsace. Lovely strawberry and mint nose. Unfortunately the rest of the wine didn't live up to the expectations created by the fragrance. Light, dry and watery. Somewhat insubstantial. This was made for immediate drinking. A decent quaffer but nothing more.

Chehalem 3 Vineyards Pinot Noir 2003 - Cherry on the nose. Very fruity with lots of spice. Sweet and the barest suggestion of some earth. Still tannic. Well balanced. Very good drinking now although will likely improve with medium term cellaring. Wine no. 2 for me.

Hitching Post Julia's Vineyard Pinot Noir 2003 - Mushroomy nose. Perfect balance of all elements-acidity, sweetness, tannins, fruit. Elegant with a drying finish. Good for sipping or with food. My favorite.

Pettavel Platina Pinot Noir 2003 - From Geelong. Somewhat muted nose. A little smoky. Dry, full-bodied. Dried out fruit. Seems over extracted with some harsh fruit elements and tannins wrung out of overripe grapes fermented to dryness. Weird flavor in the finish. I don't expect most people to understand this but it reminded me of cashew leaves which are highly astringent and have a faintly medicinal character. Nobody liked this. I remember having the first vintage of this wine and I thought it was pretty good which is why I included this in the lineup. Nasty stuff.

Felton Road Pinot Noir Central Otago 2004 - Oddly enough, has some mandarin orange character on the nose. Full flavored with lots of cherries. Ripe and juicy wine made in a friendly, forward style. Very nice but pricey for what it delivers.

Marimar Torres Sonoma Pinot Noir 2001 - Sweet attack but dry on the palate. Another friendly, uncomplicated wine. This was all I noted on the Torres as I was suffering from Pinot Noir overload by this time.

Seppelt DP 63 Show Muscat - For dessert with coffee caramel ice cream. The wine perfectly mirrored the flavors of the ice cream. A perfect match. Muddy brown, thick, rich and very sweet with coffee and caramel flavors. Tremendous finish.

Future plans include Champagne vertical, Port tasting, Kaiseki wine pairing dinner etc etc. so watch this space.

Jay, don't give up on Alsatian Pinot Noir yet. Alsace did some wonderful things with Pinot Noir in 2004 and 2005. Look for releases soon.

Bill, I have one bottle of Hugel Jubilee Pinot Noir 2004. Is this any good?

Jay,
I've never had Hugels Pinot Noir (Nor have I been a big fan of Hugel in general), but the Jubilee is a higher tier wine for them, and their Pinot Noir should be pretty good (I believe they have a bit of a following for this wine, even if I've never seen it). I'll try to find a bottle soon.
I like Marcel Deiss Burlenberg, J.B. Adam, Kuentz-Bas, and Barmes-Buecher. There are also some pretty good co-op Pinots out there, if a little basic.

I enjoyed your notes, Jay. I think I have a couple Chehalem Pinots at home (Three Vines and Ridgecrest). We did a Pinot Noirs around the world tasting once and ended up with samples from Maryland, Israel and England as well as the more expected regions. (In our tasting the Burgundies and West Coast wines didn't get much competition from the other regions.)

For those open to Pinot from all over.... Michel Rolland will release his first ever Pinot Noir from Mendoza, Argentina in the next couple of weeks. Its called MariFlor.

For those open to Pinot from all over.... Michel Rolland will release his first ever Pinot Noir from Mendoza, Argentina in the next couple of weeks. Its called MariFlor.

Michel Rolland has no business dealing with Pinot Noir. He should keep to the dumbed-down vines which made him infamous.

For those that care to listen... maybe its good to remember that Rolland makes lots of wines in many different styles. Im not a fan of many of his labels, but there are a good number of wines he makes that I really enjoy.

Perhaps the above post was meant as a jest... but IMHO, any wine lover that takes his hobby/habit seriously should at least be open to tasting something new (even if its contrarian to tradition) before dismissing it.

Just my 2 cents.

For those that care to listen... maybe its good to remember that Rolland makes lots of wines in many different styles. Im not a fan of many of his labels, but there are a good number of wines he makes that I really enjoy.

Perhaps the above post was meant as a jest... but IMHO, any wine lover that takes his hobby/habit seriously should at least be open to tasting something new (even if its contrarian to tradition) before dismissing it.

Just my 2 cents.

I find Michel Rolland amusing. But, I won't be spending any money to try his wine. If you have a bottle open Alejandro, I'll be glad to taste it.

I find Michel Rolland amusing.

Quite. I wonder if his Pinot will taste like Pomerol.