Bill Daley from the Chicago Tribune recently put the age old battle to test and asked readers for their opinions and comments. One reader said “I have to say I’m partial to Oregon pinots. And I live in California! Is that sacrilege?” See what other folks had to say here and of course find out who won.

It’s back and sounds better than ever – Pigs & Pinot 2010 on March 19th, 20th hosted at Hotel Healdsburg and noted Chef Charlie Palmer of Dry Creek Kitchen.  Joining him this year is:

• Tyler Florence (Cookbook Author, Food Network)
• Kevin Gillespie (Woodfire Grill & Top Chef finalist)
• Bryan Voltaggio (Volt restaurant & Top Chef finalist)
• Roland Passot (La Folie restaurant)
• Dustin Valette (Dry Creek Kitchen Chef de Cuisine)

Apparently the packages are already sold out and only a few tickets will be available next week on January 21st.  One wonders if they are artificially creating demand or if it’s just that popular.  Of course, one can’t go wrong in pairing pork and pinot - a perfect combination.  Go to the WineCountry.com Travel Blog for more details on each Pigs & Pinot event throughout the upcoming March weekend.

The Willamette Valley Vineyards Wine Center, which opens to the public the weekend prior to Thanksgiving on Nov. 21 and 22, intends to serve as an informational hub for the Willamette Valley wine community. The wine center will feature concierge staff members who will be available to help visitors plan and maximize their visit with tour route suggestions, local tour and tasting reservations, and offer dining and lodging recommendations. The center hopes to bring tourism to the city of McMinnville as well as to the surrounding region.

In addition to help planning the trip, the wine center will also provide an educational experience for the consumer. Daily complimentary, reserve and comparative wine tasting will be served as guests are encouraged to explore the center’s displays, including offering AVA (American Viticultural Area) maps, soil samples, information on sustainable growing practices, and rolling images of the valley projected on a nine-foot by five-foot screen.

“We look forward to spreading the gospel of Oregon Pinot Noir through collaboration with our fellow winemakers,” said WVV Founder Jim Bernau. “Our industry has a long history of collaborative and innovative efforts as well as a strong commitment to sustainable practices that have been put in place to assure a tasty tomorrow.”

The Willamette Valley Vineyards Wine Center will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

Willamette Valley Vineyards was founded in 1983 by Bernau after an inspirational visit to the west-to-south facing slope of volcanic flow in Turner, Ore., where the winery is now situated. Best known for its acclaimed Pinot Noir, WVV wines are distributed throughout the United States, Canada, and the Pacific Rim. WVV manages 300 acres of vines, which are all certified sustainable, LIVE and Salmon Safe. For more information, call (800) 344-9463 or visit www.wvv.com.

In social psychology class we learn that people tend to like things (and people) that compliment them, because of course everyone thinks they’re great and loves to have that confirmed.  I’ve noticed this principle holds up in the food and wine context, too—wines and flavors that flatter the foods we already like become our new favorites.

This is the case with pinot noir for me.  The grape does amazing things for so many of my favorite foods… salmon, mushrooms, bacon, truffles, caramelized onions, anything with a smoky flavor that won’t poison me, wild game—these are all incomparably enhanced by the silky, smoky, earthy, and (if you’re lucky) funky character of pinot noir.  Some might say adding anything to these divinely delicious foods is gilding the lily—but I am a hedonist, not a purist, and I say bring it on.

In my totally biased opinion, though, there are mighty few foods that pinot noir can’t enhance.  The grape’s tannins and texture are light enough that you can enjoy it with fish and white meats.  The complex earthy aromas round out more straightforward foods that otherwise might be, for lack of a better word, kinda boring.  The acidity keeps it bright enough to cut through richness without overwhelming the flavors or mouthfeel of whatever you’re eating.  Plus, the bubbly versions are fantastic even with tough wine pairings like soft-scrambled eggs, caviar, and the much-maligned asparagus.  If you can find me a cabernet sauvignon (or any other varietal) that does all of this, I will happily reconsider my pick for best red grape ever.

Until then, I will continue to stock my cellar with the wines that make my most beloved foods feel good… because clearly that wine is brilliant.

I love the IPNC… three days of virtually uninterrupted eating and drinking in Oregon wine country with amazing chefs, international winemakers, astonishingly delicious local foods, and a couple hundred kindred spirits who also love such things.

My past experiences at the event suggest that the acronym carries additional hidden meaning.

“I” is for the intensity of the grueling daily schedule of feasting, wine tasting and al fresco relaxation.

“P” is for the unspeakable pleasures awaiting you on lunchtime vineyard visits with Oregon’s finest chefs, during every magical evening dégustation, and on the morning breakfast buffet.

“N” is for the stunning natural beauty of the Willamette Valley summer, which you find on your plate at every meal.

“C” is for the lemon juice cleanse you will need by the time you roll away on Sunday afternoon.

Although the unbelievable food threatens to steal center stage at mealtime, pinot noir wines are of course the focus of the event.  This year the legendary and irresistibly likeable Jancis Robinson will be setting the tone as master of ceremonies, with pinot luminaries from Oregon, the U.K., and France (think Ken Wright, David Schildknecht, and Francois Millet for starters) participating in panel discussions, guided tastings, and the like.  Wines from Oregon, Washington, California, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and of course France afford a unique opportunity to examine the impact of terroir on a single varietal.  As if that weren’t enough, the winemakers will actually be there to talk you through the tastings, and also discuss the impact winemaking techniques have on the grape.  And then there’s the side-by-side dégustation of 2006 Grand Crus Bonnes Mares and Musigny Vieilles Vignes scheduled this year… be still my heart.

The event also features a visit to a local pinot noir producer with Oregon chef in tow… generally this involves a personal tour of the vineyards and winery facility, followed by a lot of wine tasting and ridiculously delicious farm-fresh snacks, followed by a no-holds-barred three course luncheon of local delicacies.  Fortunately IPNC provides transportation both from the event epicenter (the lovely Linfield College campus) and—more importantly—back to campus after lunch.  The ride back tends to be mellow and, well, replete.

Afternoons are whiled away playing petanque, nibbling cheese by the fountain, learning about local soils, and tasting the other members of the pinot family… pinot blanc, pinot gris, pinot meunier, and the Austrian St. Laurent (a wonderful ace in the hole for your next wine geek cocktail party).

And before you know it, it’s time for dinner!  The first night features a collaborative effort from some of the Northwest’s finest chefs, each preparing an original dish designed to pair beautifully with the grape of honor.  Saturday night is the legendary wild salmon bake, where hundreds of whole salmon filets are strapped to wooden staves around a roaring bonfire to cook/smoke in traditional Native American fashion.  The key to success at this event is securing your place at a winemaker’s table, because this is the night they pull out their private stashes to share with their pinot-loving friends, old and new.  As overt physical violence is typically frowned upon, more subtle techniques are needed to score this prized seating.  If all else fails and you are nevertheless outmaneuvered, rest assured you can always make the rounds to visit with them once you’ve finished eating your pound and a half of salmon.  The merriment continues late into the night.

Obviously, Sunday morning brings both a brutal hangover and the opportunity to mitigate your pounding head with cleansing bubbly, a truly fabulous brunch spread, and world class sommeliers in dress jackets and shorts.  If you can stomach another massively delicious meal at this point, god bless you. Others of us are not so lucky and have to limit ourselves to the sushi bar and only a couple of glasses of Argyle.

For those who love pinot noir and want to learn more about the grape’s many incarnations, this event is, quite simply, a must.  Rock-star faculty, all-star chefs, free-flowing pinot of the highest caliber, and fresh Oregon berries every day for breakfast.  What’s not to love?

The International Pinot Noir Celebration 2009
McMinnville, Oregon
July 23rd- 25th, 2009
Tickets and additional information available at:  www.ipnc.org

Two such recommendations are both from Maule Valley, Chile and available through My Wines Direct:

Baco Gran Reserva Pinot Noir 2006 ~ $14.99/bottle
One member comment says it best “Consider getting case for a casual party where people expect 2 buck chuck…it’s so much nicer, but not expensive. It tells your friends you are worldly and have standards, but not uptight. Light and easy to drink”
Buy online now

Candelaria Pinot Noir 2006 ~ $15.99 per bottle
According to the tasting notes, its  “Medium-bodied, it starts to show some earthy notes on the palate, and even a touch of smokiness on the finish; tannins are light and smooth”. Sounds like the perfect Pinot Noir for my friends – no sour looks here!
Buy online now
 
Not suprisingly, tasting notes for both suggests serving with pork, chicken, salmon and mushroom based vegetarian dishes.

Whether you make a day trip or spend the entire weekend, you’re sure to have some fun tasting wine from scores of Pinot Noir producers and enjoying local cuisine. 

FRIDAY:
Pinot Festival Technical Conference (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
Learn from the experts on how to grow Pinot Noir, make it, taste it and sell it. Mendocino Country Fairgrounds in Boonville – $100/person

Pinot Festival Social BBQ (5 p.m.)
Join local winemakers for a BBQ, music and of course Pinot Noir to taste. You can even bring your own bottle of wine to add to the fun. Also includes an option vineyard tour at 4 p.m.
Husch Vineyards – $50/person

SATURDAY
Pinot Festival Grand Tasting
This is the big tasting event – make this if you make nothing else! Sample nearly 100 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Wines. Also includes gourmet lunch, music and silent auction of wine and art to raise money for local charities.
Goldeneye Winery – $90/person or $50/person for desginated drivers!

Winemaker Dinners on Mendocino Coast
(1) Ledford House Restaurant – Four course dinner featuring wines from Claudia Springs Winery, Goldeneye Winery, and Zina Hyde Cunningham Winery. ($100/person)

(2) Historic Mendocino Hotel – Wine and Appetizers followed by four course dinner prepared by Chef Joe Brown featuring International award-winning wines from Harmonique. ($95/person – lodging specials also available)

(3) Little River Inn – Four course dinner prepared by Chef Marc Dym featuring wines of Esterlina. Meet the winemaker Eric Sterling at the dinner. ($85/person)

Winemaker Dinners in Anderson Valley
(1) A Pinot-centric feast awaits for you at Roederer Estate which also includes wines from Handley Cellars and Greenwood Ridge Vineyards. ($125/person)

(2) Ted Bennett and Deborah Cahn of Navarro Winery are hosting their winemaker dinner at Philo Apple Farm. The chef will serve a regional seasonal menu paired with Navarro’s gold medal winning Pinot Noirs and some winemaker favorites. ($95/person)

(3) Standish Winery will have a sparkling wine reception followed by a 4-5 course dinner prepared by private chefs Rocco & Aimee of OuiCook.

SUNDAY
One final winemaker dinner on Sunday! Renowned Executive Chef Patrick Meany of Stevenswood Restaurant will tempt your palate with mouth-watering courses that Steve Ledson has paired up with his best wines, including his delicious Pinot Noir. It’s an eight course meal at Stevenswood Restaurant featuring succulent Maine Lobster, crab and heirloom beet tartare, and 48-hour lamb shoulder. ($125/person)

More information and tickets, CLICK HERE.

For lodging, wine tasting itineraries and restaurants info, go to www.mendocino.winecountry.com.

Sunday’s Grand Tasting will showcase 200 producers of pinot noir. This is California’s largest single gathering of pinot producers, as well as its most varied. Consumers will be able to sample up to 400 pinots from every important region in California, Oregon, New Zealand, and Burgundy. As Freeman, August West and Sandler winemaker Ed Kurtzman says, “For anyone who already loves Pinot, this is an excellent opportunity to try many new wines as well as some well-established favorites. For those who don’t have a lot of Pinot experience, my bet is that they’ll be in love with this grape by the end of the weekend.”

Meet Ed, Wes Hagen, Adam Lee, Kathleen Inman, Fred Scherrer, Jeff Fink and so many others, enjoy the countless pinots and sample a variety of artisan cheeses & other specialty foods. We will feature a pinot production demonstration in which attendees can learn about the making of pinot from the vine to bottling and every step in between. We will also offer a number of pinots for auction, benefiting various charities.

For more information – www.pinotdays.com

If you are uncomfortable with sensuality—your own, that of others—you might want to skip forward a page or two.  You see, when Pinot Noir is the subject, sensuality naturally flows to the forefront.  Where the wines of Cabernet Sauvignon (including those from Bordeaux) are flavor-driven wines, those made from Pinot Noir are distinctively texture-driven.  Wines made from the red Burgundian template are clearly, happily wines of suppleness and sulkiness, wines suggestive of silk peignoirs and satin sheets.

Pinot Noir is, in short, liquid sensuality.  It is about wines whose lingering, languid textural attributes are nearly lascivious, even libidinous in nature.  So if you are faint of heart, or easily offended, you might want to flick the page.  Now.

Pinot Noir is the grape responsible for the great French Burgundies, as well as the newly soaring reds coming out of Oregon, the cooler spots of New Zealand, and California’s Carneros, Anderson Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and, especially, Russian River Valley.  Part of Pinot Noir’s mystique is that it is—at one and the same time—the most precious of winedom’s prizes and the most pixilating of its puzzles.  Much as the great Pinot Noirs stand apart from all other red table wines in their sweeping grandeur, so too is Pinot Noir quarrelsome as the devil:  as a vine, as a maturing grape, as fermenting must, as aging wine.

Just getting the right grape plant is a pain in the backside.  There are thousands of clones of Pinot Noir, and matching the right clone to a given patch of earth is an art form in and of itself, so much so that the best Pinot plots on the planet command upwards of $500,000 an acre.

Growing Pinot Noir is an equally enormous challenge, in that the vine is susceptible to all sorts of plant maladies and wants to ripen its fruit helter and skelter.  The Pinot is almost as bad as Zinfandel, ripening berries unevenly and in no particular order.  Once the fruit is in the cellar problems continue.  The must wants to ferment rapidly at high temperatures, an absolute no-no in light of the fact that Pinot’s alluring texture comes from slow, even fermentations conducted at lower, more controlled temperatures.  (Some complain of the Pinot’s tendency towards lightness in color, but remember that the variety is naturally short one color chromosome.  It is not meant to be black like Petite Sirah or Petite Verdot.  It is meant to be delicate and elegant, from first smell to last, lingering taste and texture.)

It is a curious, even ironic wonder what winemakers have learned over the last decade or two:  Most of the centuries-old Burgundian techniques make the best wines, particularly fermenting in low, wide, small tanks and gently pushing the cap (skins and seeds) down manually, rather than aggressively pumping the juice over the cap.  Gentle handling—even to the point of avoiding crushing the grapes in favor of whole-cluster fermentation—draws more flavor and more texture, all the while avoiding the extraction of harsh tannins that would subvert the supple, alluring texture that gives this varietal its singular identity.  The sardonic cycle of that which is old becoming new again.

Once made, there is neither assurance nor security.  Andre Tchelistcheff, for nigh onto four decades the resident doyen at Napa Valley’s Beaulieu Vineyard, cited his 1946 Carneros Pinot Noir as the best he had ever made.  “There were at least three stages, when the wine was still in barrel—we hadn’t even gotten it to bottle—when I was ready to pour that wine down the drain,” he once told me ruefully.  “Yet, somehow, I felt compelled to wait that wine out.  Eventually, my unexplainable patience was rewarded with a gloriously feminine wine.”  Russian-born, French-trained—only Andre could get away with saying that.

The reward for all those difficulties can be awesome, which is why so many winemakers set out, like Jason on the Argo, in search of this near mythical golden fleece.  At a tasting of older Pinots a few of years ago I came across Santa Cruz Mountain renegade David Bruce’s 1981 Pinot.  The wine still exuded a juicy texture, that succulent, fleshy “mouth feel” that makes you literally drool for the rare filet, slathered with mushrooms sautéed in butter.  The ripe strawberry, tomato and mushroom fruit, abundantly displayed, didn’t hurt the argument for Pinot Noir as sensuality brought to liquid life.

The French are best at explaining such things.  The Burgundians, in their own conservatively witty way, refer to red Burgundy as “The Good Lord Jesus, in velvet trousers, sliding down your throat.”  The late August Sebastiani was a bit more direct.  When asked by a bosomy matron to describe his Pinot Noir, he replied:  “To me Pinot Noir is like woman’s breast.  It’s round, and full, and you never get tired of it.”  (Which my many feminist friends would happily turn around, pointing to a man’s muscled, hairy chest.  At least my wife does.)
While some folks are swayed by the more fruity examples of the variety—whose descriptors range from strawberry to cherry—my tastes generally sway toward the more earthy, more essential wines.  These wines are spoken of with words like “tar,” “mushroom,” occasionally “barnyard,” and my favorite, “filet mignon.”  Blood rare.  Put that in your sensory memory bank and think on it awhile.  “Decadent” is the word Rod Strong used to suggest.  It fits.  So, too, does “fleshy,” the meaning expanded by a winemaker friend to encompass “the smell of a woman freshly out of the shower.”  Israeli-born Oded Shakked, the former winemaker at Russian River Valley’s “J” Winery, compares Pinot Noir’s juicy texture to “liquid foreplay.”  Yeow!

Tchelistcheff  favored the more replicable “rose petal,” telling a story of Captain Joe Concannon of Livermore.  “Joe told me to go into the rose garden at Beaulieu, find the darkest red rose in bloom, cut it and put it in a vase for forty-eight hours.  Then open the petals to the bloom’s heart.  There, in the dying rose is the fragrance of Pinot Noir.”

As important as flavor is, what truly and finally sets the Pinot apart from all other red wines is its fluid, voluptuous texture.  Well-made, Pinot Noir has a textural “feel” to it that is supple, succulent, velvety, silky, juicy, fleshy, fecund and “wet.”  And that is where the true and hedonistic pleasure comes from.  It is “animal” in a way; it is nearly carnal.  But it is also wonderfully sumptuous and luxurious.

It is, I think, that basic, near feral quality about Pinot Noir that helps us to get past those who would dehumanize wine by quantifying it so narrowly with point systems and scores, with talk of total acidity and pH numbers.  British-born author Gerald Asher assesses those who would judge wines by-the-numbers:  “It’s almost as if your hostess leaned across, just when you were about to taste her Hollandaise sauce, and started to discuss emulsions with you.”  Phew!  (My own response to the 100-point scoring systems and judgmental approaches is Hinkle’s First Wine Law, which says, “There are only three categories of wine:  1) I like it; 2) I don’t like it; or 3) I’ll drink it if someone else pays for it!”)

What makes Pinot Noir so ultimately alluring is that inherent and generous “mouth feel” we have just spoken of.  Because of that, Pinot Noirs are wines that can match up with nearly any food grown on the third rock.  Seagram’s seasoned restaurant advisor Evan Goldstein refers to Pinot as “liquid chicken it its easy versatility.”

That said, when you pair a good example of the Pinot with rare red meats, or nearly anything with mushrooms, you shall see first hand the glory of red wine at its best, sensuality in a bottle.  And, as the Dalai Lama reminds us, the goal of life is happiness.  I suggest to you, here, that Pinot Noir is as good an avenue as any to reaching that goal.  Allow me to raise a glass of the Pinot to your good and lasting health!

[The author of Good Wine: The New Basics, Mr. Hinkle also wrote the California, Oregon and Washington chapters to the Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine.  More importantly, he came up with Hinkle’s Second Wine Law, which speaks to the inherent sensuality of Pinot Noir:  “Great Pinot Noir inspires one to create new sins . . . and wish to commit them!”  Hinkle is to be found on the web at RichardPaulHinkle.com.]