Pinot Noir

If you know me well (at this point in this blog's life I'm assuming that if you're reading this you do) you'll know that I enjoy, well, let's be honest, love wine. You'll also be aware of my affinity for metaphors. I was thinking recently that it's rather interesting that these two loves seem to be so well matched. No neophyte sommelier or budding wine aficionado seems to be able to describe wine without resorting to overly poetic metaphors about unknown fruits, soils they've never seen let alone tasted, disturbingly specific urines and notes about childhood experiences (ah, granny's strawberry pie on a warm afternoon at our cottage at lake blah blah blah...).

But then there's Pinot Noir, and, as a trainee sommelier myself, I feel a certain urge to honor this age-old tradition in my own way.  Pinot Noir is one of my absolute favorite varietals. If good wines are like good friends (and they seem to be when locked-down in your house) then Pinot noir is your best friend. It's the friend you can call and although you might not have talked to them for a year, you talk as though no time has passed. The friend that is sometimes funky, sometimes crazy, sometimes classy, sometimes timeless but always a perfect pairing to your own off-centered personality. (I guess that was technically a simile).

Pinot Noir is the child of the Burgundy (Bourgonne) region of France. The cooler climate and limestone and gravel soil are world renowned for creating some of the most interesting, delicate, and expensive wines. Crafted over centuries starting with the Benedictine and Cistercian monks who made the region their home, Red Burgundies are the ultimate example of the beauty that a single varietal wine can achieve. Unlike blended wines, single varietal wines must get their entire character, flaws and all, from a single varietal in a single vintage.

Burgundy could be a series of posts all by itself. However, today I'd like to focus on examples of Pinot Noir from closer to home. With a similarly cooler climate, but tempered by the microclimates produced from the effects of the Escarpment, Niagara produces Pinot Noirs that compete with the world's best. In fact, Pinot Noirs from Niagara are partially responsible for showing the world that Ontario is a serious wine region and can produce excellent dry-style wines in addition to the unique and expressive sweet-style ice wines. Due to the single varietal nature of these wines, they truly express the character of Ontario.

Enough lyric and inflated prose? I'm going to focus on three wineries whose Pinot Noirs are among my top rated. All three have places of honour in my cellar.

The first is Hidden Bench. Situated in the bench area of the Niagara wine region, this small boutique winery makes some of my favourite wines. All of their offerings are excellent, however, their range of Pinot Noirs are something uniquely special. Do yourself a favour and order a few bottle and try for yourself. Nothing I say will do the genuine article justice. I recently pulled a 2015 Rosomel Vineyard Pinot Noir to enjoy with family (when we were allowed). With balanced tannins and strong flavours of blackcurrents, this wine had been aged perfectly. The Pinot Noir's from Hidden bench are equally enjoyable young or with some maturity.

The second is something a little more wacky. Jenn and I are both big fans of Big Head Wines in Niagara-on-the-Lake. They make unique, interesting, and, thoroughly enjoyable wines. Through the use of the appassimento process, they are also able to craft "big" reds from a region that struggles to do so (the fruit has insufficient time to ripen). The owner and head winemaker, Andrzej Lipinski, also has a large catalog of "raw" or natural wines: wines fermented with no added commercial yeast, only the naturally occurring yeast on the fruit at time of harvest. While obviously a risky decision, placing your hopes, dreams and reputation on the whims of nature, the results when nature is smiling upon the winemaker are almost indescribable.

Last year during an lockdown period, Jenn and I enjoyed a 2017 Big Head Raw Knotty Vines Vineyard Pinot Noir. The wild yeast give the wine a distinct funkyness, kinda like socks but in a good way (groan, classic "wine talk"). It has the minerality that I always look for in Niagara Pinots. I think the best compliment that I can give this bottle was that I was glad that I didn't have to share.

A little digression for an amusing anecdote. The first time Jenn and I visited this winery, we were on a self-directed bike wine tour (that's a story in of itself). Having been a few hours without food, we greedily accepted the offer of a 10 course blind wine tasting with unlimited cheese and crackers. The wine would be presented "blind", you had the chance to taste and guess, and then the sommolier would tell you about the wine. It was fun, delicious, and helped to convinced us that wines were thought we didn't like could be tremendously variable, and often, there are examples you'd like. We did not do well with the guessing, although Jenn did guess the brand of cracker (Crunchmaster). We left, vowing to return the next day to buy wine (we did) and the remainder of the ride was a little more "wobbly". 

For my last wine, I'd like to give a shout-out to a truly local winery, Georgian Hills. Located in the emerging wine region around Collingwood, they pull white and reds out of marginal soils in a colder climate then most would think supports world-class oenology. I'm a fan of their easy-drinking Foch and some of their chardonnay's are delicious. Specifically, I'd like to plug their own naturally-fermented series "Wild and Inspired". Last year (before I was a vegetarian) Jenn and I enjoyed (actually fought over) a bottle of 2016 Wild & Inspired Wismer Glen Elgin Single Vineyard Wild Ferment Pinot Noir. I knew when I tried this  wine young at the winery that with some age it would be fantastic, and it did not disappoint. Granted, the Wild & Inpired series is made from grape bought from Niagara growers, do yourself a favour, take a quick trip to Collingwood and enjoy some fine wine.

Drink well,

Alex

Burgundy Map courtesy of: DalGobboM¿!i?, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons