A Small Tasting of 1999 Pinot Noir

Tasted Wednesday, November 2, 2011 by wickedwax with 313 views

Introduction

We decided to have a little tasting of 5 different Pinots from different areas from across the globe from the same vintage for a fun comparison. 1999 was a great year for red Burgundy and Germany had a ripe, hot year so one would assume that the Pinot might have had a better chance of good ripeness for a region that has been known to struggle with ripeness of that grape. So we made a threw in a couple of wines from California and one from Oregon and served them single-blind to see how they'd do. We also made a nice Coq au Vin that came out really nice to pair with the wines.

Flight 1 (5 Notes)

  • 1999 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir Deep End Blend

    USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley

    Still has a fairly dark core. Aromas of primarily dark fruit with a little bit of red fruit with earthy notes. Elegant in the mouth with good acidity and a little bit of tannins. Good concentration and length. Served single-blind, I thought it might have been the Gevrey Chambertin because of the heft and that it was one of the more youthful wines of the tasting.

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  • 1999 Scherrer Winery Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

    USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

    The second lightest in color of the five wines we tasted. I would say it is still very much in its prime with high toned red fruit with earthy and herbal notes. Very elegant and poised with good balancing acidity with good length. Probably in the best drinking spot of all the wines we tasted and should probably be consumed soon. Really well done and quite a surprise since I am more of a Burgundy drinker.

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  • 1999 Lingenfelder Spätburgunder Ganymed

    Germany, Pfalz

    Unsurprisingly, the lightest in color of the five wines we tasted. Aromas of bright, high-toned red fruit with a touch of baking spices and herbs and earthy minerality. Clearly the lightest body on the palate, but not lacking in flavor or intensity. For me, this was the most easily identifiable wine in the tasting.

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  • 1999 Domaine Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champs-Chenys

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin

    Middle of the pack as far as color was concerned. Aromas dominated by a smoky bacon note on top of pretty red fruit with a splash of dark fruit and just a hint of earth. Medium-bodied with just a slight bit of tannins and good acidity, with a lot of smoke on the palate as well. Blind, I did not pick this out as the Gevrey at all. Where was the Gevrey earth or gaminess? While I think it was a well-made wine, it did not show its terroir and I think it was a lot of vinification from toasty oak that dominated and thus obscured any terroir that the wine could have shown. While I've had plenty of Roty wines, I've yet to have one with some decent age and it has me questioning if I really enjoy their wines with age if they show like this.

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  • 1999 Siduri Pinot Noir Muirfield Vineyard

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    The darkest wine of the tasting. Aromas of dark berry fruit, mushrooms, herbs and earth. The most rich and ripe wine that we tasted (and also with the most sediment). Not quite as balanced as all the rest, but with plenty of concentration. I can't say that I'm all to familiar with the Siduri, but the wine seemed to be in a fairly extracted style of which I'm not so much of a fan. A little hot on the finish but it does have good length.

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Closing

A fun tasting overall with a number of surprises. The Californians outperformed expectation from all of us and the Gevrey, for me, was a downright dissapointment. I'm happy that I was able to guess a couple of the wines correctly. But it was fun to taste all the wines and learn a little bit about what you expect and what you actually get.

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