The Wandering Wino Blog
Pinot Noir Is Deserving
Written by shawn on date 12 March 2015 in Santa Barbara County, Wine Culture, Wine Festivals , Wine Regions
Recently I had the opportunity to attend one of the greatest wine events on California's Central Coast, World of Pinot Noir. Attendees had the opportunity to taste stellar discoveries like Storm from South Africa, Leelanau Vintners Association of Michigan, and Austrialian Pinot Noirs.
I also had a chance to visit with some fantastic (personally) known producers including: Navarro (Anderson Valley), Talley (Arroyo Grande), Ryan Cochran (Santa Maria Valley), Gypsy Canyon (Sta Rita Hills),Verdad (Edna Valley), Hillard Bruce (Sta Rita Hills), Siduri (Northern CA) and many others.
Along the way I discussed Pinot Noir with some winemakers whose wine I'd like at my table, and in my glass.
Photo above - Jim Klein Navarro Vineyards, winemaker
Above photo Richard and Thekla Sanford courtesy of Alma Rosa / Photo Credit Deborah Denker
Q - Why is Pinot Noir deserving of its own event?
A - "Pinot Noir has such an elegance to it. When grown in the right place it has a wonderful balance, beautiful fruitiness to it, and works with such a wide variety of food. It is such a complete wine, and reflects place so much better than other varieties do, I think."
"I remember when there were just a couple of regions growing Pinot Noir in California, but now we really have such wonderful diverse regions. We have a lot of different characteristics coming from the different regions; it is really exciting times."
Tyler Thomas - Dierberg Santa Maria Valley / Sta Rita Hills (Santa Barbara County, CA)
James Ontiveros - Native9 / Alta Maria Santa Maria Valley (Santa Barbara County)
Q - Out of all the varietals in the world, why does Pinot Noir get its own event?
A - "There are more people that thought Pinot is a good conveyor of a site. That is transparent enough to display all the different permutations, whether it be site, farming, winemaking, barrel regime, etc. That makes it discussion-worthy and compelling."
"I don't know that there is anything else that can stand up to that kind of a discussion. Of what I have tasted, it's the one that has the most broad recognition of having those characteristics."
Dieter Cronje - Presqu'ile Santa Maria Valley (Santa Barbara County, CA)
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