Friday, September 7 2007

Pinot Noir Makes People Crazy

New York Times wine guy Eric Asimov's latest article on American Pinot Noir is very interesting. If you don't already read Eric's Blog, it's one of the most lucid columns about wine and dining around. The proprietor of Rhys Vineyards, Kevin Harvey made it big as a dot-communard and now does whatever it is that 'venture capitalists' do.

But unlike other prominent rich guys who set up vanity wineries, it seems Mr. Harvey actually likes wine, not the fame associated with it. Plus, he's got the Pinot bug--bad. If you read Winemaker Magazine (and you should), I explained in the August 2005 issue that my life was permanently altered by a single bottle of Burgundy, giving up a promising career as a rocket scientist/neurosurgeon to become a home winemaker. As someone afflicted by all things Pinot Noir, I appreciate a fellow who takes his vines into his own hands.

And he does: from a tiny base of operations, he's making American Pinot Noir into a style s rarely seen: subtle.

They have shunned the new Dijon clones of pinot noir, focusing instead on more traditional clones. Mr. Harvey is content with pinot noirs that are a traditional pale red rather than the inky black wines created for American consumers who associate dark colors with intensity. And instead of destemming grapes before fermentation, Rhys uses whole grape clusters in the tradition of some of the best Burgundy producers like Romanée-Conti, Leroy and Dujac.

"It's a structure that not a lot of California pinot drinkers are used to seeing," Mr. Harvey said.

Rhys also strives to avoid oakiness, and its pinot noirs are under 14 percent alcohol, a moderate level rare in California these days and a boon to wine lovers who prefer drinking to sipping.

Oh my, this is a man after my own heart. Subtle wines, delicate and pale, with an alcohol content that will let you open the second bottle, without falling down on the way to the corkscrew? That's the perfect rebuttal for Parker and the Wine Dictator, and all the hyperalcoholic, overextracted stuff I see too often. It's come down to the point where I'm drinking Italian Sangiovese or Rosso di Montalcino when the Pinot Noir craving hits me--they're often the only delicate, pale reds I can get for less than a couple of days pay where I live (well, unless I make one myself, but with the loss of our New Zealand Pinot Noir, I'm desolate, and hanging onto my last few cases). It's not the same, but I refuse to drink another drop of inky, black Pinot Noir that's 15% alcohol and thick enough to spread on bread. I'm not sure who decided that was a good way to make wine, but whoever he was, I suspect he was a serial drunk with a black tongue. Perhaps a Chow-chow with a good palate . . .

Pity I'll probably never see a bottle of Rhys wine in this lifetime. But it's comforting to know it's out there, and somebody's drinking it.

Posted by Tim AT 5:55PM

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