I Know What I Like and I Like Pinot Noir

I haven’t written much about wine for a while, so here goes.

A couple of days ago I stopped at Trader Joe’s to get a couple of bottles of their Viñas Chilenas Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s $3.99 and that fits my I’m-a-teacher-and-don’t-get-paid-in-the-summer budget and I can drink it. It’s not bad.  In fact, in a blind taste test, I’d guess it was more like $9.99.  So I picked up a few bottles.

Of course, while I was there I had to see what else was on the shelves and lo and behold I found some Castle Rock Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. My heart did a little leap. $11.99. Sure, I could have 3 bottles of the cab for that, but I splurged on a bottle of the pinot because it’d just been a long time since I enjoyed a nice bottle of pinot noir and I wanted to really enjoy a bottle of wine instead of just drinking one. So I put back 3 bottles of the cab and hugged the pinot noir tight to my breast and headed for the checkout counter.

By the way - I have consulted several authorities on the capitalization of varietals, but there is not a consensus. Most agree that if the varietal is attached to a proper name (Castle Rock Pinot Noir), then it’s capitalized, but if it’s by itself, it’s not, so I’m going with that. I didn’t want the inconsistencies in the capitalization to distract you from the meat of this post. Oh, but now you’re thinking about meat.

Whatever.

Pinot noir (beginning of sentence capitalization) is a fussy grape, but I don’t have to tell you that. You’ve seen the movie or read the book that single-handedly caused the rise of pinot noir and the fall of merlot. The problem is that those fussy grapes don’t grow well just anywhere and not every wine maker is capable of turning them into the unbelievably yummy nectar that I love so much.

So - there are a lot of really bad pinots out there and even a bottle of Castle Rock Mendocino isn’t worth my money for two dollars less than the Willamette Valley bottle, but that 11.99 WV bottle rivals many over $20. It’s got that heavenly nose (note the fancy wine-speak) and the subtle complexities (I’m nauseating even myself at this point) that make a good pinot noir good.

A bad pinot noir (and there are many) has no complexity, tastes like diluted Nyquil, and smells like Kool-aid that’s been sitting in the sun too long. Most pinot noirs under about $16 fall into that category aren’t drinkable in my humble-certainly-not-a-wine-expert opinion.

I can find plenty of cabernet sauvignon under $10 that I can drink, but it’s not the same experience. It’s drinking wine - not the sipping, savoring, enjoying every last drop wine that a decent pinot noir is.

As an endnote, because I can - because it’s my blog…  I’ll tell you also that I picked up a bottle of $4 wine at Whole Foods last week. It was AWFUL. El Sancho Escudero Spanish Red Wine. I know. I should’ve known by the label and the price, but the display was enticing and for four bucks, I figured I’d give it a shot. Bad decision. Steer clear.  It’s wine-flavored water.

So ends todays wine-related blog post. Happy Friday. Enjoy something yummy.

Cheers!

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