January 19, 2005
The annual B.C. Wine and Oyster Festival, which was held yesterday, is generally seen as a showcase for the crisp white wines that go so well with oysters.
This year, there seemed to be a remarkable number of Pinot Noir wines available for tasting. Whether this is a suitable pairing for oysters is a matter of taste.
But one thing is not in dispute: this is a red wine that more and more British Columbia wineries are doing well.
Currently, 562 acres of Pinot Noir are growing in British Columbia, or close to 10% of the total acreage under vine. It is the second most widely planted red variety after Merlot. Clearly, the well-being of a lot of producers is riding on the success of their Pinot Noirs.
Winemakers and consumers have a love/hate relationship with Pinot Noir. That was well explored in a remarkable book that was published last year: North American Pinot Noir by John Winthrop Haeger. The publisher is the University of California Press. It is a hefty 445-page hard cover book, half of it devoted to an excellent discussion of the grape and the other half taken up with profiles.
Blue Mountain Vineyards and Cellars is the only British Columbia winery with a full profile. Haeger makes reference to CedarCreek, Quails’ Gate, Mission Hill, Burrowing Owl and Tinhorn Creek (and a few others) but does not consider them to be Pinot Noir “specialists.” One could quarrel with that, but aside from that quibble, it is a book that I would recommend highly.
The book was fresh in my mind as I went around the tasting tables at the Wine and Oyster Festival (one of Vancouver’s best tastings and a great way to launch another year in wine). Blue Mountain was there but, alas, with no Pinot Noir (the winery’s 2003 Pinot Blanc – 90 points – is superb on its own and with oysters).
But these are the Pinot Noirs I did find:
* Kettle Valley 2002 Pinot Noir Reserve (90): a bold, brooding, cellar-worthy wine; dark in colour with concentrated flavours of plums and berries.
* Kettle Valley 2002 Pinot Noir Hayman Vineyard (88): a single vineyard wine with a mineral earthiness supporting bright fruit flavours.
* Quails’ Gate 2001 Family Reserve Pinot Noir (88): a firm-structured wine with notes of cherry flavours set on a base of new oak.
* CedarCreek 2002 Platinum Pinot Noir (90): a classically silken, feminine wine with lovely notes of strawberry and just enough firmness to reassure that the wine will develop well for several years.
* Mission Hill 2002 Pinot Noir Reserve (87): lovely silky texture, with fresh fruity flavours of cherries and strawberries. In the Haeger book, the author attributes an interesting quote to an unidentified Mission Hill employee, to the effect that management had yet to decide whether to “get serious” about Pinot Noir. This is the best Pinot Noir I have yet tasted from Mission Hill. I would suggest the winery is becoming a player in this variety.
* Cherry Point 2001 Pinot Noir (80): light, lean wine with bright notes of cherry and cranberry. This was the only Vancouver Island Pinot Noir at the tasting. Two of the island’s leading Pinot Noir producers, Venturi-Shultze and Alderlea, almost never show their wines in Vancouver.
* Oak Bay 2001 Pinot Noir (82): the wine shows some of the silky mouthfeel expected in Pinot Noir but the fruit flavours are light; an easy-going wine.
* Blasted Church 2003 Pinot Noir (85): a wine that is satisfying if not subtle. There are gobs of fruit set on new oak. The screwcap closure effectively captures all that tasty fruit.
* Arrowleaf 2003 Pinot Noir (86): an uncomplicated wine with lots of fruit – cherries, raspberries – and with the velvet texture of Pinot Noir.
* Glenugie 2001 Pinot Noir (84): light in body and colour but with a good silky texture, this wine shows fresh strawberries. The finish is a bit dry.
There may have been other Pinot Noirs in the room that I did not have a chance to taste. Let me note three that I have tasted in recent weeks elsewhere:
* Calona Vineyards 2003 Artist Series Pinot Noir (85-86): a bold, fleshy red that is ripe and plummy and uncomplicated.
* Tinhorn Creek 2002 Pinot Noir (85): soft, light, cheery wine with sweet fruit flavours.
* Burrowing Owl 2003 Pinot Noir (91): if a wine could arm wrestle, this would be a champion. Big, powerful, concentrated wine with earthy, plummy fruit and flavours of spiced cherries. The finish is so rich that it reminded me of Syrah.
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