Pinot Noir Rose

This post was intended to be a pitch for the Les Boursicottes Sancerre Rose which happens to be 100% Pinot Noir.  It is imported by the remarkable value-oriented Scoperta Importing Company of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.  Much of their portfolio is affordable to most of us.  Les Boursicottes, however, is pricey.  Internet pricing indicates it may be a thirty dollar suggested retail, but our current 2019 vintage needs to go, so it's half of that now.

Scoperta, being a smaller importer, doesn't offer scads of information about their wines so we decided to pivot to a post about Pinot Noir Rose in general, only to learn there isn't much information about roses...period.  Wine Folly does a pretty good job of assigning flavor profiles to different varietal roses but that isn't what we wanted.  We wanted to know what makes Pinot Noir Roses, in particular, so good.

Pinot Noir is the great red grape of the world.  Cabernet Sauvignon is more widely planted and seems to do well in most places, as long as it's not to warm; but Pinot Noir at its best is a truly transcendent experience.  Unfortunately that kind of experience seems to be limited to Burgundy, France and maybe just a couple other places.  In other words, ninety percent of them are disappointing.  So if you want to hedge your shopping bets, get a Cabernet.

But why are Pinot Roses so good?  Here I have to confess - I don't know.  I cut cheese for a living so that one's beyond my pay grade.  But the romantic side of me wants to believe there is something magical about the Pinot grape.  As we said, the grape only does well in a few locations around the world, yet Pinot Roses seem to always overperform.  What gives?

We think we have two explanations.  

The dark and dirty secret about Pinot Noir in the marketplace is that a whole lot of it is rarely the single varietal Pinot Noir wine the consumer thinks it is.  Most California producers know their pinot juice is weak so they blend it with Syrah or something else to achieve fullness.  That way they can make a pretty good red wine.  It's just not Pinot Noir.  Could some of the Pinot Roses out there be similarly blended to achieve a fullness that mediocre pinot lacks?

Secondly, when good ethical producers have a bad vintage, they punt and turn that juice into rose.  So if the terroir that produces reliably good Pinot Noir as a rule is now turned into rose then it follows that that rose would also be superior.  Or something like that.

So have we achieved anything here?  Probably not.  But if you want to try some good rose, try a pinot.  And if you need a good dinner wine, try the Les Boursicottes.

Delft Blue Cheese

Stilton, Roquefort, Gorgonzola.  We've sold 'em all.  Delft is new here.  It's probably more similar to the softer Danish types or real Italian Gorgonzola.  In any event, it's definitely not a crumbler.  

Delft is a rich and creamy cow's milk cheese that is absolutely charming on the palate.  It has a mellow fat buttery taste with underlying sweetness.  There is no saltiness at all to this cheese and coorespondingly, no aggressive wang at the end.  Just a nice clean finish with that same lingering sweetness.  

Visually this cheese appears just like it tastes.  It has a milky whiteness with spare attractive blue veins.  The cheese is firm enough to slice as long as your slice is moderate considering its texture.  Delft is also supposed to be meltable if desired.

Now here's the backstory: Delft is a town on the Schie River in South Holland between Rotterdam and Den Hague.  It is the historic home of the artist Vermeer and the home of Delftware, tin-glazed earthenware, aka Blue de Graven.  

Delftware was a local response to the extreme popularity of Chinese porcelain in the 16th century.  To this day the Delftware Chinese knockoff continues to sell both to new Dutch tourists and to its worldwide fan base.  

What does this have to do with the cheese?  Color-wise the cheese bears a definite resemblance to the earthenware that makes you think there is a connection.  Could Delft Blue Cheese be a knockoff of the dishes?

Wine Crime is Soaring...

Our post title is a shortened version of the title of an article from the February 27th edition of The Guardian online.  The whole article is interesting and entertaining and well worth a look-see, but one point made there made me think this post might be worthwhile.  

The article says, "Today it is estimated that as much as 25% of all wine in the world is not as described."  It is either adulterated, mis-blended or misrepresented on the label.  

When I read this, I recoiled in horror.  WTF!  This is my industry and it's unethical to the tune of 25%?  This is an outrage!  Then, after a little thoughtful introspection, my Claude Rains/Inspector Renault Casablanca catharsis kicked in.  Should we be "shocked" to find gambling/corruption going on here?  Of course not.  The scandals in wine industry history are legion.  If the truth be known, 25% is probably conservative.

Before we go any further, here are two points for clarification:

1. The Guardian article was about real corruption.  It cited a Yellow Tail wine scandal in England last year that involved counterfeit product on store shelves.  That is serious corruption.  

2.  Our beef is more nuanced.  It concerns deliberately loose wine laws that are meant to protect the industry when bad vintages, forest fires, earthquakes and other acts of God occur.  While that intention is good, it makes them vulnerable to exploitation by companies that want to increase their bottom line.  What if those intentions aren't harmless opportunities to increase profitability but rather a deliberate intention to deceive the public?  Is that serious corruption?

Yellow Tail isn't the product of some bucolic, back country Aussie vineyard as it's advertising implies.  It is sourced from some of the cheapest excess bulk juice inventory they can find.  So by misleading the public this way is Yellow Tail a fraud?  It depends.  According to Australian wine law if the label says it is Australian wine all of it must be sourced from that continent.  So to the best of our knowledge, Yellow Tail is legitimate in that respect.  Not so in our domestic wine law where our appellation system declares only 75% of the contents must be from that place.  

Recently we learned one of the premier wine companies of California, known for marketing higher priced wines, was importing a lot of Chilean juice.  In fact, many large California companies do the same thing.  Some own properties down there for that very reason.  It is an ongoing practice.  For many mega-producers fully 25% of  their California-labeled product may not be California wine at all.  Yet the practice is legal and the marketing apparatus will tout it as fine California wine.

Fess Parker

It occurs to me that I am old.  Most of you probably have never heard of the actor Fess Parker, or if you have, you have relegated him to the annuls of the bygone era in which he performed.  In other words, he was someone your grandparents remember.

Or maybe you've heard of Fess Parker Winery & Vineyard but never gave a thought to the historic figure whose name now lives on in this industry.

Fess Parker was huge in the entertainment culture of fifty years ago.  He starred in Disney pictures in the fifties and early sixties before becoming TV's Daniel Boone through most of that decade.  He was a larger than life Texan and a cinematic hero, at least for kids growing up at the time. 

Parker left acting in the early seventies, went into real estate and did well.  In 1988 he purchased the 714 acre Foxen Canyon Ranch in the Los Olivos District within the larger Santa Ynez Valley AVA in Santa Barbara County.  He began planting Riesling grapes in '89 and poured his first wines two years later.

Today Fess Parker Winery & Vineyards has 110 acres planted in Riesling, Syrah and Viognier.  They also market a Napa Cabernet and a Pinot Noir sourced from nearby Santa Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley.  In total 75% of Parker wines are sourced from Santa Barbara County vineyards including Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that go into a sparkler.  One-third of Parker production over all is varietal Pinot Noir, 30% is Chardonnay, 20% is Syrah and 10% is Riesling.

And that brings us to the Fess Parker Riesling on our shelves right now.  We bought it initially three months ago and blew through it in no time.  It didn't hurt that we tasted it out here in the store.  Everyone loved it.  

Considering the lack of popularity for Riesling in general, we think the wine's reception was due to its inviting style.  It was different.  Its slightly off-dry style is prefaced with fresh friendly floral aromas leading into a bounty of fruity notes (with lychee nuts!).  We can't help but think some of their Viognier juice found its way into the blend.  And it doesn't hurt that its pricing is quite friendly too.

Northern France - Southern France

Menetou-Salon is a legally delimited wine appellation adjacent to Sancerre at the eastern end of the Loire Valley. The finest Sauvignon Blanc in the world is sourced from this general area of northern France.  By contrast, Gard is an IGP (indication geographique protegee), a vin de pays level wine region, one step above the most basic quality level.  It lies in the middle of southern France just above the Mediterranean Sea.  Both of our examples for this post entered our store this week and again, perhaps to generalize too much, it's the difference between north and south in France.

The finest wines of France begin just a quarter of the way up the map with Bordeaux at 44 degrees latitude.  With the exception of the fine types from the Rhone Valley, everything else plays a second quality fiddle in the south.  Yet most of the wine made in France comes from that ribbon across the south and most of it's not bad.

We weren't familiar with Menetou-Salon before this one came in the door.  Since it was from our best supplier we kept it even though we were told it would be a Sancerre.  After just a little research, that turned out to be a good move.  Menetou-Salon may be viewed today as a westward extension of Sancerre to meet world demand. 

Our Gard example is Domaine Mas Barrau Cabernet Franc.  Its label says it is a 100% varietal Cab from a single vineyard family-run estate.  It is certified organic.  While we have no reason to doubt the claims just stated, it is marketed by a huge international wine concern and as an IGP wine, much is left non-guaranteed.  It only has to be sourced from that region with legally defined harvest limits.   

By contrast, as an AOP (appellation d'origine protogee), our Menetou-Salon must adhere to the two conditions just listed plus historic wine making processes including blending rules and alcohol content.   

Interestingly, both regions share a connection with antiquity.  In all likelihood Gard viticulture was begun by 6th century Greeks planting grape varieties originally from Greece.  The Loire Valley has monastic vineyard documentation from the 14th century that alludes to 11th century development.

So why the profound difference in the appraisal of the north vis a vis the south?  It's no surprise - The north has cooler temperatures and in this case, Kimmeridgian soils, AND protectionist wine appellation laws that keep pricing optimal.  Consequently our Cabernet Franc ends up being half the price of the pedigreed Sauvignon Blanc.               

Dollar Bills Only

So here's what we were told - Patricia Green Cellars had a bad vintage in 2020 (smoke) and rolled all of their single vineyard pinots into one wine, labeling it "Dollar Bills Only."  While our information was generally correct, we can now flesh it out a bit.

Patricia Green was one of the giants in the Oregon pinot business.  She passed away in 2017 and Patricia Green Cellars is now in the hands of her business partner/winemaker, Jim Anderson.  While we have sold their wines in the past, we didn't know how large and rarefied their production was.  If you go to patriciagreencellars.com you will learn that they are the largest producer of bottles of Pinot Noir in the country.  You will also see more than a dozen single vineyard pinots advertised for up to $300/btl.  

Patty Green had a great reputation in this business, by the way.  Her wines were not manipulated to meet what the market expects.  She took what the vineyard gave her and didn't intervene to reconfigure the stuff.  If you look at the color of the wine in the glass it will be the correct garnet or cherry red color, not a darker hue betraying adulteration.

In order to make Dollar Bills Only, Patricia Green Cellars declassified pinot juice from five vineyards; Estate, Freedom Hill, Ridgecrest, Wind Ridge and Risdahl Ranch/Shafer.  We are inclined to think the remaining properties at her disposal were written off due to the smoke taint.  This limited pedigreed fruit was made into a "silky, layered, juicy and pure, ripe cherry and wild berry-flavored" finished product.  Tellingly, the wine's complex fruit and spice flavors build and improve in the glass ending in a long lasting finish.  My mentor would have approved.

Lumpy's is a dive bar in the town of Dundee in the Willamette Valley.  The juke box there has a sign on it saying, "Dollar Bills Only" and that image is reproduced on the wine label.  The significance is meant as a statement about making the best of a bad situation.

Wine Purchasing 101

We bought a couple cases of wine recently.  One was The Paring Red Blend which was included in a slew of samples our vendor poured for us.  Frankly, it was the best of the lot.  

Later that same day another vendor brought in his samples that we proceeded to taste through.  After purchasing some from that bunch, he verbally offered the Angels & Cowboys Red Blend from Sonoma.  He made it sound so good, we went ahead and bought a case.

The obvious difference between the two purchases was the ability to taste the wine in the first case and just getting the salesman's pitch in the second.  The backstory?  We've known the first vendor for just a couple months.  The other fellow we've known for decades.  That makes a difference.

The Paring is a Cabernet-driven Bordeaux blend from the Screaming Eagle people; Screaming Eagle, being the most expensive wine of California.  It has no prestigious appellation of origin other than California in general, but we tasted it and it was good.  

A field blend utilizes grapes like Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache, Sangiovese, Carignan, and/or other blue collar types, in various combos that somehow comes out tasting pretty good.  Angels & Cowboys is that kind of wine.  Right up my blue collar alley.

So The Paring has provenance; it has the Screaming Eagle connection and it's Cabernet, the most reliably fine red grape in the marketplace.  Angels & Cowboys, by contrast, has Sonoma-legs but little else to recommend it.  And I bought it without even tasting it!  

Yet I will recommend both to you all.  If you like the Screaming Eagle Cabernet provenance, get The Parings.  If you have a history with me here then lets talk.  Angels & Cowboys isn't for everyone.  But it might be perfect for your needs.