Two tastings: Pinot envy and Organic Orgy WTN

Tasting #1: The Noland brothers do Pinot Noir. James, Bob, and Tom each provide 1 Pinot. Tasted blind first without food and then with white cheddar and smoked sausage. All three wines were opened at least 2 hours before tasting.

Wine #1: Dark ruby with a vibrant cherry nose supported by a background of earthiness. Sweet red currant fruit, tartness, and a rich earthiness on the palate. A great silky finish of complex fruit that was medium to long. This wine did not change much with time in the glass.

Wine #2: Clear ruby with toasty oak, earthiness, and a touch of black cherry on the nose. Sour cherry fruit, spiciness, and nice smooth tannins on the midpalate. The finish of sweet fruit short to medium in length. This wine improved somewhat with time in the glass with the oak becoming less obtrusive.

Wine #3. Medium crimson with a toasty oak nose and hints of deep black fruits. Drying tannins on the front palate with clean tart cherry fruit and oak. Oak needed some time to integrate in this wine in my opinion. Medium to long finish of fruit and then oak. This wine improved considerably in the glass during the tasting with the finish getting better with time and the oak dissipating.

With food:

Wine #1 was great with the white cheddar because of the complementary spiciness. Voted best wine by all three Bros.

Wine #2 was really good with the sausage because of the smokiness of both. OK with the cheddar. Voted wine #3 by all Bros.

Wine #3 Best wine with food as it went best with the sausage and cheese. Best finish of all three wines. Improved the most with time in the glass and after 1 hour was declared the best wine by Bob with agreement by James and myself.

All three of guessed all pinots as new world. And we all three picked out our own wine correctly.

Bob guessed my wine as down under, likely New Zealand, and James’ wine as California
James guessed my wine as New Zealand, and Bob’s wine as California.
I guessed Bob’s wine as Oregon and James’ wine as Central Coast California.

Wine #1: Castle Rock, Monterey County, Pinot Noir 2004. $12.99 $US, Bob’ wine

Wine #2: WAIPARA SPRINGS RESERVE Pinot Noir 2002, $24.95 $CAN, My wine

Wine #3: Loring, Santa Rita Hills, The Llama, 2004. $44.00 $US, James’ wine

Tasting #2: Organic Orgy. All wines were produced from organically grown grapes. This tasting was offered by my local wine store, the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) and was conducted blind.

Wine #1: Deep ruby red with plum, vanilla and violets wafting up on the nose. Bright acidity, drying tannins, and black fruits (blackberry and black cherry) on the midpalate. This wine just cries for food. Short to medium somewhat tannic fruit finish.

Wine #2: Medium ruby with a shy nose of some vanilla, meatiness, and hints of fruit. Blueberries and smooth tannins on the midpalate and a medium long finish that build to a nice fruity end.

Wine #3: Medium ruby with a spicy (cloves and all spice), caramel, and dried fruit leather nose. This is a big wine with fairly aggressive tannins attacking the front palate, quite tart with black pepper, some fruit, and vegetal tastes on the midpalate. Medium to long finish that seems to have tannins clamping down on the fruit. This wine seem closed with the fruit disjointed. Most did not like this wine but I detected something worthwhile in it and kept coming back to it as if it was hiding some promise that I was trying to ferret out.

Wine #4 Clear straw yellow wine with pear, gooseberries, and especially buttery pineapple on the nose. Hits the midpalate with this smooth, buttery pineapple and mango fruits and a good dollop of toasty oak and vanilla. The alcohol tingle was evident also, suggesting high alcohol. Also probably had malolactic fermentation (butteriness).

Wine #5 medium ruby red with a nose of toasty oak, bacon, leather, coffee, and some blackberry fruit.The palate was greeted by earthy, dusty mushrooms, some spiciness, and nice balance. The finish was medium to long but somewhat subdued.

Cheeses:

1. Tomato basil havarti
2. Boursin with black pepper and herbs (strongest tasting of all cheeses with lots of spicy pepper)
3. Goat Brie that was very soft to runny and quite mild in taste.
4. St. Paulin which had the taste and texture of a regular Brie.

Wine #1 was great with havarti and goat brie and especially nice with the peppery Boursin (best match for this wine). Good food wine as the food took some of the acidic edge off this wine and allowed its fruit to sing.

Wine #2 was OK with Brie and a very nice match with havarti and St. Paulin.

Wine #3 was a great match with havarti and St. Paulin and good with Brie. Most did not like it with the Boursin because it enhanced the pepperiness of the cheese but I loved it with this cheese as I really love peppery spice.

Wine #4 was good with St. Paulin (brought out the sweet fruit in the wine) and goat Brie, and great with the pesto havarti as it brought out the basil.

Wine #5 was OK with goat brie, good with St. Paulin and Boursin, and great with the havarti, again bringing out the basil flavor in this cheese.

Wine #1: Laville Ferme 2004 Cotes de Ventoux. $10.55 $CAN

Wine #2: Perrin Reserve Cotes du Rhone, 2004. $13.95 $CAN

Wine #3: Chateau de Beaucastel, Chateauneuf de Pape*, 2003 $79.95 $CAN

Wine #4: Bonterra Chardonnay 2004 $17.95 $CAN

Wine #5: Bonterra Syrah 2002 $19.95 $CAN

Overall impression: All of these wines were good to very good but none really impressed me. The CdP probably has the most potential but did not taste like a typical CdP to me. Perhaps due to the 2003 being such a hot vintage. These organic wines were better than I had anticipated and although I did not buy any, convinced me that organic wines are worth buying in the future.

Tom Noland

Tom, thanks for the excellent notes! Your note on the Brettcastle 2003 reads like so many notes of mine of the 2003s in general. I don't like over ripe fruit but what I like even less are unbalanced tannins and I find that the harsh tannins especially are the plague of the vintage. I'm not convinced they will soften harmoniously to become balanced. I have only bought one 2003 red (Haut-Bailly) and frankly from what I've tasted, I'm really not planning on buying any others.

. I'm not convinced they will soften harmoniously to become balanced. I have only bought one 2003 red (Haut-Bailly) and frankly from what I've tasted, I'm really not planning on buying any others.

Hi Otto,

Thanks for your comments on 2003 vintage. I am still trying to figure out this vintage and have not really purchased any French wines of this vintage yet . I have purchased some German 2003 rieslings and found most of them really much sweeter than their classification! We had a Gunderloch Spatlese Nackenheim Rothenberg for Easter that was more like a BA! Good wine for dessert but too sweet for ham and potatoes. However, the Jean Baptiste 2003 riesling kabinett from Gunderloch is quite typical sweetness for its class. I guess you just have to taste them to find out! I have had some nice 2003s from Sicily.

Tom Noland

Tom, I've also bought a few 2003 Rieslings - but nothing for the long term. Just something to drink over the next years while I wait for the 2004s to mature. They have been among the more successful European wines, but still they even manage to taste flabby (not something I would usually say about the grape!). Portugal also has some success, but even there I've thought the cooler vintages better. I see no reason to buy much, as there will always be good vintages to come.

Tom,

Excellent report above, in particular, the detailed nature of the masking and food pairings provides added interest to this reader.

Coincidentally, I opened a 1998 Gold Capsule Auslese from Gunderloch recently and had an almost identical experience. Deep orange/gold colour, uber sweet (way above any Auslese from 1998 I've encountered) with apricots and peaches, unctious texture and almost cloying due to the lack of acidity. Not dissing your handle on the hot 2003 vintage but, seemingly, this house goes for maximum extraction with the examples we've encountered of late.

Tom,
Not dissing your handle on the hot 2003 vintage but, seemingly, this house goes for maximum extraction with the examples we've encountered of late.

David,

I just opened my second 'Jean Baptiste' 2003 tonight. It seems to be somewhat lacking in acid and a bit high in alcohol (10.5%) for a typical kabinett. But I found the sweetness just about what I expect for this wine. This has been my house white from the 1999 vintage on. I buy 6-12 bottles of it every year and have even been building a vertical starting with the 2000 vintage. So I have a bit of experience with it.

Also, I have had other 2003 German rieslings lately, such as the Studert Prum 2003 Spatlese that were also way sweeter than a typical spatlese. I think that it is not just Gunderloch that has declassified wines that are much sweeter than their ripeness classification in the 2003 vintage.

Thanks, Number 1, for the notes. I tried to guess based on your descriptions. I never would have guessed the Loring (I haven't had the Llama), but I suspected the Beaucastel.
I had decided not to purchase any 2003s in quantity - tried a few and was not impressed - until my wine shop guy suggested I try the Perrin Reserve '03. I have enjoyed this wine in the past as a cheap but interesting quaffer, and the '03 is different - a bit lusher and at this stage a bit more primary with a little less of the typical rhone funk - but still obviously rhone and I liked it and went back for a case. But then again, for $85 a case I can use it in marinade.

Thanks, Number 1, for the notes. I tried to guess based on your descriptions. I never would have guessed the Loring (I haven't had the Llama), but I suspected the Beaucastel.
I had decided not to purchase any 2003s in quantity - tried a few and was not impressed - until my wine shop guy suggested I try the Perrin Reserve '03. I have enjoyed this wine in the past as a cheap but interesting quaffer, and the '03 is different - a bit lusher and at this stage a bit more primary with a little less of the typical rhone funk - but still obviously rhone and I liked it and went back for a case. But then again, for $85 a case I can use it in marinade.

Hi O. W.

I was surprised by the llama myself, and I had a bottle of the 2003 which I really liked. The amount of oak in this one was what threw me off, because Brian usually goes pretty easy on the oak. He may be experimenting a bit.