Weekly Saturday Tasting

The Pinot Family

Saturday, June 22nd
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 California Sparkling Wine made of 100% Pinot Noir. We'll then venture into still white wines with a traditional Italian example of Pinot Grigo, and for a taste of Pinot Blanc we will sample one of our favorites out of Alsace, Fance. To look at Pinot Noir itself, we'll try out two from different regions - an Oregon stalwart, and a favorite out of New Zealand, an area that is getting more and more attention for their excellent Pinots. This is always a fun theme that we do once a year or so, and we're excited to revisit it Saturday!

Bravium 'Wiley Vineyard' Blanc de Noirs
Anderson Valley, California, 2020

Torre di Luna Pinot Grigio
Venezie DOC, Italy, 2022

Domaines Schlumberger 'Les Princes Abbés' Pinot Blanc
Alsace, France, 2021

Mohua Pinot Noir
Central Otago, New Zealand, 2020

Colene Clemens 'Dopp Creek' Pinot Noir
Chehalem Mountains, Oregon, 2021