One of my bosses recently asked me to taste a bottle of Pinot that we import from New Zealand. I asked him why and he indicated that there were a few people who recently let him know that they didn’t like it – it wasn’t fruity.
Anyone who knows my wine preferences or has been reading my blog long enough knows that I don’t particularly care for the new style of Pinot – big, rich, clean & fruity. Those California Pinots getting the high scores – I can’t stand them.
Back to the New Zealand Pinot – I was also showed a response by the winemaker to an inquiry about the wine from my boss. It was really brilliantly written by a talented winemaker who has been making New Zealand Pinot for about 20 years. In essence he said that Pinot is a strange and oftentimes unpredictable animal – ever evolving between clean pure red fruit to earthy, barnyardy & even a flat out dirty wine.
It is that Pinot complexity and unpredictability that attracts me and I would suspect so many others to the varietal. As wine coincidences would have it, I recently read a piece by Robin Garr in the 30 Second Wine Advisor. Garr’s “Pinot Theory of Evolution” speaks to Pinots amazing evolution in the glass… and I couldn’t agree more.
I am often blown away by the Burgundy I taste with my wine club. The good ones are elegant, (not overpowering like so many new world Pinots), multi-dimensional (so many different characteristics) & complex (changing in the glass over time). Sadly, Pinot is a tough animal and as good as the good ones are, that is how bad the bad ones are.
I tried that Pinot my boss asked me to taste and you know what, it was somewhat Burgundian in style…and it was spectacular!
Happy dirty & evolving Pinot Wine Tasting!
WTG
Tags: 30 second wine advisor, dirty Pinot, new Zealand, Pinot Noir