The Most Romantic of Wines – Pinot Noir

The Most Romantic of Wines – Pinot Noir 

Pinot Noir is notoriously difficult to grow, but capable of producing wines of such complexity and elegance (and price) that people have compared it to music, silk pajamas and even sex. The legendary Joel L. Fleishman* once penned an ode to Pinot Noir, calling it, "the most romantic of wines, with so voluptuous a perfume, so sweet an edge, and so powerful a punch that, like falling in love, they make the blood run hot and the soul wax embarrassingly poetic.”  Well said. 
 
Pinot Noir is grown all over the world, but it’s true home is Burgundy. As chronicled in the film Sideways, California is a major producer of Pinot Noir. However, many wine experts think that it’s Oregon’s Willamette Valley that compares most favorably with Burgundy. The Willamette Valley lays at the same latitude as Burgundy and has a similar cool climate. Pinot Noir has been grown in Oregon since the 1960s, but it wasn’t really taken seriously until the famous French wine producer Robert Drouhin planted grapes there in 1987, creating Domaine Drouhin Oregon. 
 
We’re going to compare and contrast wines from the two regions this weekend. Join us on Saturday to taste through some of our favorite Pinots from Burgundy and Oregon. 
 
*I had the honor of meeting Joel Fleishman and was awed by his intellect and kindness. He’s a hard man to define. Renaissance man comes close. In addition to wine connoisseur (he wrote a wine column for Vanity Fair in the 1980s), he was a scholar, author, philanthropist, lawyer, and professor. He died at the age of 90.  

You can read a beautiful tribute to Joel here