The Pinot Family
Saturday, September 30th
1:00 - 3:00
1:00 - 3:00
This weekend we are going to focus not on one particular grape, but on a family of grapes - Pinot. The backbone, original grape of the family is Pinot Noir. A notoriously difficult grape to grow and vinify, Pinot Noir is known by some winemakers as the Heartbreak Grape, in reference to it's fragile, fickle nature. It is a grape that when grown in the wrong place with the wrong techniques can make insipid, dull wine; but when grown in the correct place, with the right terroir and with skillful vignerons, it can make a wine of ethereal elegance and intense complexity. It is one of the classic red grapes of the traditional noble grapes, yet also makes wonderful dry rosé and is one of the main grapes of Champagne. It also has two closely related grapes that
re-invent its flavor into white wine frameworks - Pinot Gris/Grigio, and Pinot Blanc. Interestingly, it is not that Pinot Noir is a parent grape of the two, as you would see in Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc combining to create Cabernet Sauvignon. Instead, Pinot Gris and Blanc are actually naturally occurring mutations of the Pinot Noir grape. So they are the same, yet different. The names come from the color of the grape skins for each - Pinot Noir (black), Pinot Gris (grey), and Pinot Blanc (white). To stem any confusion, Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are the same grape, the name difference just being the French name versus the Italian name. For this weekends purposes we will start with a wonderful Oregon Pinot Gris that finds great balance between the French and Italian styles, and for a taste of Pinot Blanc we will sample a fantastic example from Austria, where the grape is known as Weissburgunder. To look at Pinot Noir itself, we'll try out two very different styles - a classic Burgundy, and a charmer out of Oregon's Willamette Valley.
Coeur de Terre Pinot Gris
Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2022
Stift Kloster Neuburg 'Ried Jungherrn' Weissburgunder
Vienna, Austria, 2021
Dubreuil Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune
Burgundy, France, 2021
Violin Pinot Noir
Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2021
re-invent its flavor into white wine frameworks - Pinot Gris/Grigio, and Pinot Blanc. Interestingly, it is not that Pinot Noir is a parent grape of the two, as you would see in Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc combining to create Cabernet Sauvignon. Instead, Pinot Gris and Blanc are actually naturally occurring mutations of the Pinot Noir grape. So they are the same, yet different. The names come from the color of the grape skins for each - Pinot Noir (black), Pinot Gris (grey), and Pinot Blanc (white). To stem any confusion, Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are the same grape, the name difference just being the French name versus the Italian name. For this weekends purposes we will start with a wonderful Oregon Pinot Gris that finds great balance between the French and Italian styles, and for a taste of Pinot Blanc we will sample a fantastic example from Austria, where the grape is known as Weissburgunder. To look at Pinot Noir itself, we'll try out two very different styles - a classic Burgundy, and a charmer out of Oregon's Willamette Valley.
Coeur de Terre Pinot Gris
Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2022
Stift Kloster Neuburg 'Ried Jungherrn' Weissburgunder
Vienna, Austria, 2021
Dubreuil Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune
Burgundy, France, 2021
Violin Pinot Noir
Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2021