Hosted my blind tasting group this past week. The theme for the main portion of the tasting was all Pinot Noir, with each pair including a new world and an old-world wine. All the reds were opened two hours before the start of the tasting to check condition. None of the wines were decanted. Given that it’s still a bit summery in my area, I put all the wines back in the 54-degree wine cellar until serving. That turned out to be a bit too cool for the first pairing, so I pulled the wines, and let them warm up a bit, but not all the way to the 72-degree room temp.
Welcome wine: Goodfellow Family Cellars Blanc de Blancs Whistling Ridge (Ribbon Ridge, Oregon)
A degree of reduction on the nose, but behind that some very bright, precise fruit, and a moderate level of acidity. Starting to come into its own but still needs a couple of years IMO.
Then into the pairs of Pinot Noirs. Again, served blind to the group.
2018 Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir Olenik Vineyard Wadensvil Block (Chehalem Mountains, Oregon)
2018 Hudelot-Noellat Chambolle-Musigny (Cote d’Or, France)
Still too cold after being pulled from the cellar just minutes prior to serving. Once they warmed up both wines, and especially the Patricia Green, showed much better. Initially the PG was completely closed on the nose but later showed dark berry fruit and a touch of wild herbs. A very strong wine – firm backbone of tannin that seems to need a lot more time. By comparison the Hudellot-Noellat was suave and sophisticated, Audrey Hepburn to the PG’s Alan Ritchson. The texture of the Chambolle was fantastic, but it needs time to develop more aromatic depth/complexity. That’s the second 2018 Hudellot-Noellat I have opened in the last couple of weeks, and I am pleased with how they are evolving.
2019 Domaine de la Cote Pinot Noir “DDLC Estate” (Santa Rita Hills, California)
2019 Mugneret-Gibourg Bourgogne (Cote d’Or, France)
These two wines had warmed up just a bit more, and so were more accessible from the get-go. The DDLC ended up being the only slightly controversial wine of the evening, as it had a clear, cool green streak running though the mid-palate. Not completely vegetal, but distracting. The overall structure of the wine was very nice, but it ended up in last place by a wide margin. The Mugneret-Gibourg was excellent, both texturally and in terms of aromatics/flavors. As so often with M-G Bourgogne, it was a cut above its humble appellation. Showed a touch of oak, but that was well balanced to the deep fruit.
2014 Peay Vineyards Pinot Noir Scallop Shelf (Sonoma Coast, California)
2014 Mugneret-Gibourg Vosne-Romanee (Cote d’Or, France)
I really liked the Peay, as it had this citrus (orange?) zest note along with lots of still very fresh red fruit. Hard to believe it was 12 years old. Texturally soft, so probably best to drink soon, but lots of pleasure to be had. The Mugneret-Gibourg Vosne just stepped up the game. Spice and red fruit, balanced tannins, everything was perfectly in place. The guys were talking about something while I was sipping on this. I didn’t hear a word they said!
2014 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Horseshoe Hillside (Santa Cruz Mtns., California)
2014 Domaine Bachelet Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes (Cote d’Or, France)
This was the consensus pairing of the evening, and ultimately the top two wines in the final scoring. The Rhys was still (and isn’t this always the story with Rhys) somewhat closed aromatically, but on the palate it blossomed. Turned earth, gravel, dark red fruit, a bit of spice and woodfire smoke – so much going on. Plenty of tannin to take it for years. Nice to have a Rhys wine coming close to cashing in on the years of anticipation. Then there was the Bachelet, which stood tall like a king. Nowhere close to mature, but you can see where it’s going, and that is going to be a fantastic destination. Firm in structure, but plenty of dark fruit that buffers the tannins, this would be great with dinner now but hang on because the future is going to be crazy.
Finishing wine: 2015 Schloss Lieser Riesling Spatlese Wehlener Sonnenuhr (Mosel, Germany)
Served while we were tallying the scores. Showing very well now, with just a bit of maturity showing with a slight honey tone over the lemon curd fruit. Should be fun to follow this wine over the next several years.
When the scores were tallied up the top three wines were the Bachelet in first place by a wine margin, the Rhys in second, and the Mugneret-Gibourg in third. The Domaine de La Cote finished far behind the pack in eighth, with the remaining wines clustered very close together in the middle.