"The World's Favorite Red Wine..."
That's what the presenter from Acacia Winery told his rapt audience of 200 tasters at the annual Vintners' Feast held each December at Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel. The year was, as I recall, 1979. In direct competition was a Cabernet Sauvignon from one of Napa Valley's smaller, obcure producers - Shafer.
Well, the Acacia Pinot disappointed many tasters, and the Shafer went on to develop an almost cult-like following. But what happened here typified the struggle California winemakers have braved to bring Pinot Noir to its present glory.
Pinot Noir is celebrated for its alluring, bright, spicey cherry flavors, medium body and low tannins. It's pretty in the glass and on the palate. It enjoys the lightness and ease of Beaujolais, but offers complexities of flavor to rival the best of Bordeaux. It may or may not actually be the world's favorite red wine, but it's certainly a top contender.
In my early years of wine education, things were much simpler. Pinot Noir came only from France, and the French never called it by its varietal name. It was known as Burgundy. Many Americans were surprised when they discovered that some Burgundies were white; even more so when they learned that they were, in fact, Chardonnays. When you said "Pinot Noir," you were referring to red Burgundy. And there were two kinds: the rich, dark, heavy ones from the northern slopes - the Côte de Nuits; and the lighter styled, "elegant" Burgundies from the Côte de Beaune. The best examples all came from the north and ranked among the world's most expensive wines. Legends abounded that Alfred Hitchcock had contracted for the entire annual supply of Le Romanée-Conti, the most revered of all the northern Burgundies.
California wineries, flushed with their success with Cabernet Sauvignon, naturally turned their attention to Pinot Noir. That road turned out to be a tortuous one. Creditable California Pinots prior to around 1985 might be counted on the fingers of one hand. Then, suddenly, a tidal wave of fabulous California Pinots hit the marketplace. It was the fruit of an enological breakthrough. We began to understand that great Pinot Noir, perhaps more than any other varietal, depends on soil (the French told us that all along), climate, and proper clone selection.
Today's California Pinot Noir is, in a word, a miracle. Decades of research, combined with vast amounts of trial and error, have finally given us a leg up on this tricky, but rewarding varietal. And guess what; the old distinction between the rich, deep Burgundies of the Côte de Nuits vs. the lighter wines of the Côte de Beaune has become forever blurred by the continuous spectrum of wonderful Pinot Noirs from California. But California Pinot Noir is not Burgundy. The difference in style is easily as great as that between top California Cabernet Sauvignon and top red Bordeaux.
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