The theme of GINI 15 is to compare cool-zone and moderate-zone Pinot Noirs. The book Great Wine Made Simple ((Immer, Andrea. Great Wine Made Simple, New York, 2000. Pg 106)), outlines what we can expect from the wine in different climate zone. For the cool-zone, we have two bottles of Burgundy (same wine in fact, just different vintage), and for the moderate-zone, we have one from California and one from South Africa.
The Look
In terms of color, we were expecting the moderate-zone ones to be darker than the cool-zone ones. However, that’s not the case for us; our Burgundy was darker and the New World ones have a lighter ruby color. Notably the back label of the Burgundy has a comment of the wine having deep color, so it might be uncommon for Burgundy.
The Smell
Without a doubt, the Burgundy have strong scents of tangy berry. It certainly taught us what to expect from the smell of Burgundy in the future. As for the moderate-zone ones, they do have scents of berry or cherries, but definitely do not have the same bite as the Burgundy. The book also points out that moderate-zone ones may have a bit of sweet oaky smell. I wonder if that’s what it is when I thought it smelled “Californian”.
The Taste
Similar to the smell, the Burgundy have stronger, more spicy acidic taste. The book uses the word “tangy”; I suspect it means strong and more intense taste. The moderate-zone Pinot is more fruity and juicy.
From the rankings, I guess I prefer wine to be more fruity and juicy, while most of us prefer more spicy complex wine. One strange thing happened in this tasting; quite a few of us were having trouble emptying our glasses, even though we all like the wine. One of us even vomited. I wonder if it is the “Fresh” fruit salad we had from that take out place.
