Battle of the Pinot Noirs

It's about time I posted on my wine blog again! I've had a trio of bottles waiting on me to do a tasting flight. It's been so long since I bought them that I somehow started thinking they were Rieslings, but NO--they're all Pinot noir! How could I have made them wait so long?

Of these three bottles, we're covering three different years and three different countries.

Just had to show you the cutesy
 little penguin footprints
imprinted on the foil

Up first is the 2010 Little Penguin from south eastern Australia. The label tells me to look for delicate flavors of cherry and strawberry with a hint of spice. It's the brightest, reddest one of the three, and OH, it smells so good! Maybe that's just because it's been too long since I've had a Pinot noir. But I do smell red berries. As for the taste: Wow, that's quite sweet for a Pinot noir. Not too sugary-sweet, though; just fruity-sweet. It takes a bit for the spiciness to come out, but after a moment it hits with a zing.

Next is the 2009 Red Bicyclette from Vin de Pays D'Oc, France. The label claims enticing aromas of fresh red fruits and a soft, smooth mouthfeel. It looks slightly orange-red in my glass (though I'm sure some of you would call it pink-red instead). Oddly enough, there's not much to the nose. Maybe it's not completely odorless, but it's close. And, well, there's not much to the taste, either.

Finally, it's the 2008 Cupcake Vineyards from the central coast of California. The label suggests the bright aroma of cherries with a touch of red currants and a hint of spices. It's "reminiscent of a cherry cupcake with currant coulis*" (whatever that is). I see there's a slight purplish tinge to the deep red color, and it's not quite as clear as the other two (or maybe it's just in a glass that's a tad more smudgy? I'll never tell). It has more of a sharp green odor than the other two, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. Something about it makes me want to break out the cheddar cheese. The taste, however, is not great. It's rather bland. But I'm sure the cheese will help, and if you'll give me a moment I'll let you know . . . YES, it's excellent with cheese. But only with the cheese.

I wonder if the poor Red Bicyclette would be helped by cheese?
Let's see . . . nope. For whatever reason, that one actually tastes worse with cheese.

My verdict: I like Australia's Little Penguin the best, although California's Cupcake with cheddar cheese is a close second. The French Pinot noir was my least favorite, although if France keeps all of her best wines to herself, that's not too surprising.

*I looked up coulis for you, and apparently it's like gravy made of fruit. I'm sure it tastes better than it sounds.

It's time . . .

I worked all weekend and my house looks like an elephant took a dump in it. In other words, it's Sunday night. This calls for another of my own personal private wine tastings. Maybe then I can focus on the fact that my kids are in bed and there's all kinds of peace and quiet to be appreciating until 7 a.m.

Tonight it's the Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz, Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Rex-Goliath Pinot Noir, Layer Cake Primitivo, and a boxed Cab. (It's Franzia, in case you wanted to know, but does it really matter?) Since you probably don't feel like going back and reading those posts (heck, I don't even want to), I'll give you the short version of what I thought of each previously.

The Jacob's Creek was smoky, spicy and nice. The Alexander Valley was a little dry, and mild but complex. (I'm expecting this one to be the winner tonight, by the way.) The Rex-Goliath was fruity but unremarkable (and my favorite in the last tasting flight). The Layer Cake was acidic, green, and smoky--good but not great. The boxed Cab was green and tart.

Ok, so first I'm giving them each the sniff test. They each have a distinct smell. The Jacob's Creek, well, it just smells like wine to me. The Alexander Valley still has that flowery smell. The Rex Goliath smells beer-y (though back when I opened it, it smelled fruity. Maybe it's gone bad . . . after all, it's been more than two months since I opened it). The Layer Cake smells sweet. The boxed Cab smells kind of bad. Like cheese. Or feet. I wonder if I would have had a more favorable opinion if this had been a blind test.

I think I actually like the Jacob's Creek Shiraz the best, although the Alexander Valley (definitely the unique one of the bunch) is nearly as good; it's just different, and I find the Shiraz more pleasant. I'm afraid the Rex-Goliath just isn't right anymore. It is definitely my least favorite of the five, but it would be nice to be able to compare a freshly-opened bottle of it to the others. The Layer Cake is a little bit too sweet, and I'm sure it has changed since I first opened it a month ago, because my previous call (acidic, green, smoky) does not match up at all anymore. The boxed Cab was the most boring one, but it is a decent backup, and it actually tasted the best with the crackers and cheese I tried with each wine.

I know what I need to start doing: I should do my taste tests on freshly-opened bottles. Guess that means I need to get me some more unopened bottles.

Tonight I have a buddy!

My husband is off work tonight, so I decided to share my wine with him while I do my new tasting. We have the previous Alamos Malbec, Rex Goliath Pinot Noir, and boxed Merlot along with a boxed Cabernet Sauvignon which I have not yet tried.

First I must mention that I recently read a book which I really enjoyed: "Swallow This" by Mark Phillips. One of the things I learned from it is that I may not be getting these bottled wines at their best for these tasting flights. Apparently wine can become "off" in just a few days after uncorking. Well, to be honest, I've never noticed this. Sure, after a few weeks or certainly months an opened bottle of wine will go bad. But just a few days? I'm not too worried about it.

So let's start with the Cab, since it's new to me. It smells a little bit green and has a somewhat tart taste (which I guess I'm supposed to call acidic). Hud thinks it tastes watered down and bland, but I'm not getting that at all. It's not bad. I'd buy it again.

The Merlot kind of smells like vanilla, but not like a cupcake or anything. It's a little more sour than the Cab. Hud says it tastes more dry and tart. I'm not really noticing that it is any more dry than the others. It has a slightly different flavor from the Cab, but I think they're about equal.

OK, maybe the Malbec has turned by now. There was a lot of sediment in the bottom of the bottle and it tastes a little odd. Maybe it's unfair to compare it to the others, because I'm afraid it's been exposed to air for too long and it's not at its best. Hud says it tastes less tart, but at this point I'm not sure how valuable his opinion is. It does taste a little weird, though.

The Pinot Noir is kind of bland. I can smell grapes (imagine that!) and it tastes like beer. Hud thinks it would be better with a little Jack Daniels in it. Of course, Hud thinks just about everything would be better with a little Jack Daniels in it. I didn't try that.

Hud's final prouncement was, "I don't know. They all taste like crap." I don't know what's wrong with him, because I say they're all pretty good. My least favorite is the Rex Goliath, but even that is decent. I think next time I'll just keep my wine to myself. No sense in wasting it on someone who doesn't appreciate it!

Rex-Goliath Giant 47 Pound Rooster Pinot Noir

I fell for a kitschy label, but happily it's a pretty decent wine anyway. It's a beautiful ruby red, and has a nice fruity but not sugary smell. The taste is a little unremarkable, but nice.

This was the first time I noticed how easy it is to reuse the fake corks. They're not only good for helping to conserve cork oaks!

My only question is, what does it say about a wine if it's not even labeled with a year?

Heaven on Earth!

Today my definition of joy is being home alone with five different kinds of wine. I finally have time to do the new taste test I've been itching for. I am so happy that, not only am I showing you my own sorry attempt at photography, but I am also allowing you to see that I drink my wine out of water goblets. (Gasp!)

The five contenders are my four most recent acquisitions previously blogged about (Forest Glen White Merlot, Sebeka Cabernet Pinotage, Le Grand Pinot Noir, Blackstone Cabernet Sauvignon), and Franzia Merlot in a box. (Yes, in a box, but I have an excuse. I always keep some sort of boxed wine on hand just to make sure I don't run out. These things are necessary when you live in a dry county and you have to drive to Arkansas to restock).

That's the White Merlot in the foreground, of course, and then the other four are rather indistinguishable from each other in the picture. The boxed Merlot is not quite as inky as the other three, and the Cabernet Sauvignon is maybe slightly more purplish, but I really don't think there's any way I could tell the true reds apart by just by looking at them. OK, truth be told, I probably couldn't tell them apart by tasting them, either. I'm not that good (yet. But I'll keep working on it).

The White Merlot is definitely the lightest and sweetest of the bunch. No surprise there. The boxed Merlot is not quite as sweet as the white, but is a little plain compared to the other three. Unfortunately, I can smell nail-polish remover in the Cabernet Pinotage (just like wikipedia warned me), though it is faint. Odd that I didn't catch this scent previously. Even more odd is that I still like the taste. I mean, it's nothing like what I imagine drinking nail-polish remover would be like.

The Blackstone Cabernet Sauvignon has the most unique bouquet of the five, and I am trying to put my thumb on what I'm smelling, but I'm having no luck. I called it green banana before, and I guess that's the closest I can manage this time too. I think the Pinot Noir smells the most fruity, the Cabernet Pinotage has a tangy whiff, the Cabernet Sauvignon smells heavy and somehow bright, and the boxed merlot kind of reminds me of smoky barbecue or Worcestershire sauce . . . ? Oh, and by the way, yes I DO realize I am comparing what amounts to apples, oranges, peaches and carrots. But I see no problem in this, since I am trying to decide what I like best.

The White Merlot kind of seems to have a beer-y aftertaste. This may be because it is better straight from the fridge (and I have allowed it to sit out and breathe just as long as the true reds for this taste test). I may make this my summer wine, for a chilled drink, but for the purposes of this taste test, it just does not stand up to the other four. So White Merlot is low man on the totem pole this time around.

The Pinot Noir is a very pleasant wine. The Cabernet Sauvignon has a nice zippy feel to its finish. The Cabernet Pinotage has a really good flavor. Even the boxed Merlot is nice. I can't decide which one I like best! Fortunately for me, I don't have to.

Black Sheep Le Grand Noir Pinot Noir 2008 Limoux, France

The wine guy at the Party Factory picked this one out for me. It had a sign next to it saying it was great with turkey; I didn't try this pairing myself, though I thought about it, but it's too late now, as we've already polished off all the Thanksgiving leftovers.

This wine is a deep ruby red, dark but clear. It has the nicest legs I've ever noticed on a wine before, which is supposed to be a good thing, but I'm not sure I understand why. The label claims flavors of spiced cherries, and I definitely get the spice, but I'm having a hard time picking out cherries--though I do think I can smell a little bit of a strawberry scent. It's very acidic (which is, I learned just recently, what you call it when the wine has a sour taste) and dry. Excellent with cheese!

I'm sorry to report that the bottle has a screwcap instead of a cork, which seems slightly ghetto, but I guess it's good news for the cork oak trees. I wonder if that colors my opinion? Because, while this is a decent wine and I'm enjoying it fairly well, I don't love it like the previous two bottles. I feel another comparison post coming on . . .

Time for another experiment!

This time it's a Malbec, the Lindemans Pinot Noir, and a boxed Merlot. The Malbec is a Don Miguel Gascon 2008 from Argentina's Mendoza wine region. I did another blind taste test and here is what I found:

First, I was not able to guess which wine was which. I had never tasted the Malbec before, but I got it and the Pinot Noir mixed up. (That means I guessed the Merlot correctly, though!) All three wines were very similar in color, with the Malbec perhaps a slightly more purplish dark red. The nose varied very slightly between the three, though I liked the smell of the Malbec the best--it almost had a hint of vanilla and nutmeg hiding in it. I had trouble describing the smell of the Merlot; all I could come up with was buttery garlic, but that's not quite right. The Pinot smelled somewhat sour (but not in a bad way), with a strong smell of alcohol, and a greenish, almost asparagus-like odor. All three wines had a very smooth taste and for some reason even seemed almost bland to me, which is odd because I normally think of Pinot Noirs as quite spicy. The most interesting flavor I noticed was that the Malbec had a distinctly tea-like taste, which is all the more odd because I originally found this Pinot Noir to have a tea flavor but I didn't notice that at all this time around.

No clear winner in this round. (Unless it's me!) All three wines get two enthusiastic thumbs up.

Lindemans Bin 99 Pinot Noir 2008 Australia

I was pleased to find that my local Party Factory carries Lindemans. I had enjoyed their Chardonnay that Carole gave me, and I was tempted to buy the same again but at this point am more interested in tasting what I haven't tried before, so I got their Pinot Noir instead.

This is a very pleasant wine, slightly sweet with a spicy finish. The bottle describes it as "juicy raspberry flavours with a soft finish" and the Lindemans web site says it has "sweet strawberry and spice flavours." I'm really not very good at distinguishing the flavors of specific fruits in a wine, but when I smell this wine I would lean more towards calling it a tart raspberry than a sweet strawberry, mixed in with almost a tea scent. You know, what it really smells like to me is Raspberry Zinger tea! And no, in case you were wondering, I am not in the habit of spiking my tea. But maybe I should be. It would certainly make for more interesting mornings.

Extra note: My second glass seemed to smell more like coffee or chocolate. (Not more like coffee or chocolate than like wine, but more like coffee or chocolate than like Raspberry Zinger tea). Not that this is a bad thing. There are certainly worse odors.

Firesteed Pinot Noir 2006 Oregon

I followed the Mark West with this "more adventurous" Pinot Noir, described on the bottle as "Bright, easy to drink... exuberant cherry and berry fruit flavors and aromas." Again, I found a wildly different description online: "The wine's aromas of strawberry and raspberry mingle with the distinct sensation of vanilla-cream."

Honestly... even though this bottle was more expensive, I liked the Mark West better. And the search continues...

Mark West Pinot Noir 2006 California

My friend Amy turned me on to Pinot Noir after her stint in New Zealand. (She is still looking for the perfect American pinot noir as it is not easy to find a good selection of NZ wines here. I hope she remembers to tell me if she finds it). When I went to the Party Factory in search of a bottle of pinot noir to try, the wine guy sold this Mark West to me as a good baseline; he said if I liked this I could try something a little more "adventurous" next time. The bottle description: "Red and black cherry flavors abound with a note of spice from oak aging... rich in texture with a lingering finish." My verdict: I really, really liked it. But it was not Vino Nobile.