Red Burgundy vs. NW Pinot Noir
New World Winemakers have Optimal Vineyard Sites, 46 Clones of the French Grape, and excellent Wine Production Techniques but will it Win the Taste Test?
May 1, 2006
For centuries the world looked to Burgundy and nowhere else for fine wines made from the Pinot Noir grape. Otherwise obscure village names became familiar, even sacred, to new world wine lovers. Names such as Chambertin, Corton, Vosne, Pommard, Meursault, Aloxe, Puligny, Chassagne. Wines from these villages and vineyards became among the world's most sought after wines and prices soared.
Meanwhile, the rest of the wine growing world was playing catch-up. California was among the first regions to give the endeavor a try back in the 1960s, but with little success. In the 70s certain vineyard sites and regions began to emerge as more likely than others to produce viable Pinot Noir fruit. These regions were cool by comparison and the most promising featured limestone soils (Chalone in the Gavilan Range, HMR west of Paso Robles). Good, but not great Pinot Noir wines began to emerge.
In the 80s we learned the importance of matching the right clones of Pinot Noir to specific vineyard sites. Pinot Noir is, perhaps, the world's most mutable grape. There are 46 registered clones in France alone, compared to 34 Cabernet Sauvignon clones. It has mutated into Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio), and Auxerrois. Some contend that Chardonnay may be a distant relative.
In the late 90s and in the past few years we've seen a surge of success worldwide with this difficult varietal which the French have always considered their private province. New World winemakers have identified optimal vineyard sites, clones, and production techniques. Do these New World Pinot Noirs compare favorably to red Burgundy? Our tasting panel set out to discover.
We selected seven Pinot Noirs; three red Burgundies, two California Pinot Noirs, an example from New Zealand and one from Oregon. Six were tasted single blind, meaning that the tasters knew which wines were included, but did not know the order. Would the French Burgundies stand out from the others? To be sure we didn't shortchange the French, we included only wines officially rated above 90 points.
In summary, the red Burgundies were easily distinguished from the others by their comparative leanness of style and complex layered flavors and aromas. Most New World Pinot Noirs seduce the palate with a barrage of deliciously explosive fruit. Other aromatics and flavor components are perceived almost like a footnote.
The red Burgundies we tasted were more refined and lighter on the palate, although no less tasty. Tasters' comments on the New World examples tended more to generalities such as rich, bright, clean, fresh, chewy; the French examples tended to elicit more focused descriptors such as mint, pepper, cherry cola, mushroom, cinnamon, flint, vanilla. We found more to notice, enjoy, and discuss in the French examples.
However, there was a huge surprise in store when the identities of the wines were finally revealed. The top scoring wine of the event was not French! Are New World wineries finally beginning to approach the lofty standards of red Burgundy? We'll address that issue in our next article, along with individual reviews of all the wines tasted.
