Pinot Noir proves it's worth the attention
Given its rocky history in America, we were surprised to discover a few years ago that Pinot Noir under $20 had become a far better bet than American Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot at that price. But that was BS -- Before "Sideways." We hadn't conducted a broad blind tasting of inexpensive American Pinot produced after that 2004 movie made this once-underappreciated grape trendy and cool.
In our experience, wines that suddenly become popular often suffer for it, with winemakers pumping out oceans of bad stuff to try to catch the wave. Has this happened to Pinot? We lined up more than 50 bottles to find out.
By now, Pinot's story in the U.S. is well-known. The great grape of red Burgundy, which tends to be finicky and enjoys cooler weather, was dismissed in the U.S. for decades. But as winemakers found the right places to grow it -- a process that is continuing -- it finally gained respect. California began producing some high-end, world-class Pinots as well as some surprisingly good examples under $20. Oregon is making its reputation on Pinot.
In the midst of all of this came "Sideways," with its Pinot-loving anti-hero and his famous quotation: "It's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's not a survivor like Cabernet that can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it's neglected. … Only when someone has taken the time to truly understand its potential can Pinot be coaxed into its fullest expression. And when that happens, its flavors are the most haunting and brilliant and subtle and thrilling and ancient on the planet."
Who wouldn't want to try a wine like that? The result: Interest in Pinot has risen dramatically. There's more of it than ever on shelves. Americans are even checking out Pinots from other New World wine producers, with New Zealand making a big push for its Pinot.
In tastings in both 2003 and early 2005, we found that there was a great deal to like about Pinot under $20. While top American Pinot and fine Burgundy have layers of haunting complexity and a velvety texture that seems to flow right into the more romantic reaches of our souls, the less-expensive wines offer simpler delights: bright fruit, good acidity, easy drinkability and wide compatibility with a huge array of foods, from salmon and roast chicken to braised short ribs.
Or at least that was the case. Is it still? We bought 50 wines that cost about $20 or less from California and Oregon to find out. We picked up wines from the 2005 and 2006 vintages, both because they are most widely available and because these often are meant to be drunk young and fresh. We focused on names you're most likely to see, but added a few from more-obscure wineries as well.
The first pleasant surprise was how many examples we found from Oregon. While Oregon is producing some outstanding Pinot at the high end, we hadn't found many inexpensive examples in the past. This time, about 15 percent of our sample came from Oregon. (We decided to be a little flexible on the $20 limit because we found so many wines bumping right against that price where we shopped and it turned out that a more-representative price would be slightly higher.)
Having completed the blind tasting over several nights, we're back with good news, and a whole bunch of asterisks. The good news is that Pinot continues to be consistently reliable. While there were few wines that hit heights, a large number were bright, fun, easy and bursting with good fruit. Unlike Merlot, Cabernet and many other inexpensive reds both from the U.S. and elsewhere, these were not oaky, not sweet and not heavy. If you are at a wine shop or a grocery store looking for an interesting, tasty red for dinner, we'd continue to urge you to head to the Pinot Noir aisle.
Our best of tasting, to our surprise and delight, was Robert Mondavi. That classic winery went through a very rough period for a while and was sold in 2004 to giant Constellation Brands. The wine we tasted, the 2005, was classy, rich and tasted expensive, which gives us hope that the Mondavi name, under the new owners, might once again be ready to shine. Here's the first asterisk, though: We paid $19.99 for this at a store in New Jersey, but, when checking prices nationwide later, found that it's generally more.
Our two other favorites that rated Very Good were also interesting surprises, for different reasons. One was an organic wine from Frey Vineyards ($15.99). We have written before about the tremendous strides in organic and organically grown wines and this was one of the best we've had -- fresh, real and delightful. But as the label of this wine points out, storage is especially important with wines with very low sulfite levels so these need to be bought from a good merchant who has kept them well and should be consumed early.
Our other favorite was an utter delight from Willamette Valley Vineyards ($22). In our notes, we described it as "Beaujolais-like" because of its jazzy color and vibrant, just-picked tastes. That wasn't coincidence. It turns out that this was made in a special way -- carbonic maceration, in which fermentation takes place within whole, unbroken grapes -- that is best-known for giving Beaujolais its fresh, fruity, drink-me-now tastes. This was a lovely bottle, but will never be better than it is today.
The biggest, and most troubling, asterisk of the tasting became apparent as we cataloged our favorites at the end. While the 50 wines represented prices all over the map, one-third of our nine favorites cost more than $20 in many stores. This is quite different than the results in previous tastings and makes us a bit worried that Pinot's popularity has caused a price run-up that could keep it from being an everyday treat. We will keep a very close eye on this.
But that brings us to one last point: Because of the big surplus of wine in France, some American wine producers now bottle French wine under their American labels. As we looked around for our Pinots for this tasting, we were surprised to find Pinot Noirs from Camelot, Echelon and Beaulieu that looked just like they always did -- except for the "Vin de Pays" in small letters at the bottom of the label, which shows it's actually a French wine. They were generally less expensive than the American Pinots and the Beaulieu, especially, was an excellent deal at $7.47. It reminded us of the simple, no-nonsense, highly gulpable wines we drank this summer at cafes in Paris, and it's hard to give a wine a higher compliment than that.