Pinot Noir is great to have with friends who (1) have beginner’s red wine palates and the Cabs of the world are just too much for them AND (2)  guzzle wine like beer making you wonder why you served it in the first place.  But alas, at my age, you typically still have friends in both categories at your little parties, so accomodating both is a must.  In addition, Pinot pairs well with a host of foods. But more importantly, it doesn’t require me to break my piggy bank.  For about $15 to $20, I can find a bottle of Pinot Noir that most of my friends will appreciate and still drinkable for me too!

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

Read the rest of this entry »

Anderson Valley in Mendocino Wine Country is known for producing great tasting Pinot Noirs!  Thus, it only makes sense that they have a festival dedicated to this varietal every year.  Mark your calendars for May 15 -17, 2009. 

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. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Dive into Pinot Noir in San Francisco at the upcoming annual Pinot Days in San Francisco June 24th – 28th, 2009.  Taste a wide variety of Pinot from producers from various wine regions. Attend winemaker dinners, focus tastings, tours, and much more.  If you can’t attend any of the other events throughout this long weekend of Pinot, definitely eek out some time for the Grand Tasting on Sunday.  Seedetails below:

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

by Richard Paul Hinkle
(WDC Sensual PN 309)

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m subscribed to the San Francisco Food and Wine Newsletter and they always have some great recipes in them.  One of the very cool things about their recipes is that they give you all the pertinent nutritional info. (i.e. calories, protein, carbs, sodium, etc.)

A recent recipes was for Portobello Mushroom Burgers paired with a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.  Sounds great considering I’m on a diet and this has to be less fattening than the real thing.  To boot, I like mushrooms so it doesn’t seem like I can go wrong.

Some good producers of Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs or at least my favorites are:

• Merry Edwards
• Dutton Goldfield Winery
• Rodney Strong
• DeLoach Vineyards
• L a Crema

Read the rest of this entry »

Wine is not for snobby, nose in the air, straight-laced,  stuffy people! And that’s why we watch Gary Vaynerchuk on Wine Library TV.  He’s extremely enthusiastic, energetic and makes wine fun.  I don’t know why but he reminds me of  Emeril, but for wine… And yes, I realize he doesn’t say BAM! after each sentence, just something about his energy perhaps…

In any event, he did a blind tasting of Pinot Noir not too long ago apparently at the specific request of a viewer…

You can go directly to the WineLibrary TV site here for the tasting notes and to buy any of the Pinot Noirs mentioned in the episode.

If you haven’t subscribed yet, what are you waiting for!?