Pinot noir is the hot varietal over the past several years. Who hasn't seen "Sideways", the movie that helped raise pinot noir to its current state of popularity? And that popularity is certainly well deserved. The grape provides beauty, elegance, depth and complexity that is difficult to match.

Pinot Noir is widely regarded as one of the world’s great wine grapes and is one of the oldest grape varieties to be cultivated for the purpose of making wine. Ancient Romans vinified it as early as the first century AD.

Pinot Noir is genetically unstable, making it difficult to grow and vinify. The parent vine may produce offspring that bear fruit that is nothing like the parent's in the size and shape of the berry or cluster. It will often even have different aromas, flavors, and levels of productivity. There are 46 recognized clones (genetic variants) of Pinot Noir in Dijon, France. but there may be upward of 1,000 clones of pinot noir worldwide. By comparison, cabernet sauvignon has only twelve identifiable clones.

Pinot Noir is also one of the more difficult wines to ferment. Partly due to the presence of 18 amino acids, which are naturally balanced in this variety, Pinot Noir ferments violently, often "boiling" up and out of its container, speeding the process out of control. Color retention is a major problem for the thin-skinned berries. Pinot is very prone to acetification and often loses the sometimes promising aromas and flavors it seems to display through fermentation and aging, as soon as it is bottled. Conventional wisdom is that California Pinot Noir, when compared to the "gold standard" of pinots, Bourgogne (Burgundy, France), is a light, fruity wine of no consequence, but California and Oregon vintners over the past twenty years have been improving site and clonal selections, viticultural methods, and vinification techniques. California appellations such as Santa Rita Hills, Russian River Valley, Carneros, Anderson Valley, Santa Lucia Highlands, and Oregon appellations like Dundee Hills and Willamette Valley all provide the warm days and cool, often foggy nights in which Pinot Noir thrives.

Pinot Noir is often one of the most complex of all varietals and can be intense with strawberry or black cherry aromas, spicy accents suggesting cinnamon, sassafras, or mint. Ripe tomato, mushroom, and barnyard are also common descriptors for identifying Pinot Noir, especially true Burgundy wines, where New World wines can exhibit sweet notes of oak, vanilla and smoke. At best, it is full-bodied and rich but not heavy, high in alcohol, yet neither acidic nor tannic, with substantial flavor despite its delicacy. The most appealing quality of Pinot Noir may be its soft, velvety texture which is often described as liquid silk.

Pinot doesn’t generally age as well as darker reds. They usually reach their peak within five to eight years after the vintage. Pinot noir is a great match with many foods. Grilled salmon, a good cut of plain roast beef, or any dish that features mushrooms as the main flavor element will show off the delicacy and texture of this wine. Other main dishes that match well include roasted and braised lamb, pheasant, and duck, as well as grilled meaty fish, such as shark, and swordfish. Best are foods that are simple and rich. Go easy on the spices or you might mask the delicate flavors of pinot noir and can bring out an unpleasant, hot taste of alcohol.

The Barrel Room features some of the finest offerings of New World pinot noir from such outstanding producers as Merry Edwards and La Crema from California's Russian River Valley, Brooks "Janus" and Beaux Freres from Oregon's Willamette Valley and Wild Horse "Cheval Sauvage" from Santa Maria Valley. And whether you choose one of these or any of the other over 25 pinot noirs we offer, you'll find a pinot noir that suits your taste, style and price and one you'll truly enjoy.

Each Sunday at 2:00 PM, The Barrel Room presents a wine tasting event. Each event will showcase different varietal, winemaking style or other theme. Some of our most popular tastings have been our "semi-blind" events where tasters know only the varietal. The tasters then have to decide which wine or wines they like best without knowing the winery, vintage or price of the wine. Lots of surprised tasters find that what they picked isn't always the most expensive or well-known wine and this always leads to lots of spirited and fun conversation.

Tasting are limited to 16 guests and each theme is presented for two consecutive weeks so we can accomodate everyone who would like to attend. We hope you'll join us soon for one of these enjoyable and, we hope, educational events. Look over our upcoming schedule, pick the date you'd like to attend then call us or let any of the TBR Team know. We'll be happy to get you registered. Here's our upcoming schedule.

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