Pinot Noir for Every Palate and Pocketbook
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It’s a celebration of togetherness and sharing that has only one purpose, to give thanks. Thanks for the bounty on our table, thanks for the company we get to keep, and thanks for the time we spend together.
As a wine lover though, it can be a difficult holiday, as I am sure many of you know. The traditional sides, those delicious yams, and the sweet and sour tang of cranberry sauce can make wine pairings a challenge. Fortunately for me, I am very forgiving if the wine doesn’t sing with every element of my meal, and besides that, for me it’s all about the bird, thigh please.
Nonetheless, a lot of thought goes into selecting wines for these types of celebrations. While other wines might be better matches, I’m thinking of Lambrusco and Loire Valley Chenin Blanc for example, those can be geeky and intimidating choices. So what wine is a good choice, will work well with the food, and make a thousand palates sing? Pinot Noir of course.
To help you make your thanksgiving Pinot Noir choices I tasted through three dozen wines searching for examples that will make your holiday table a success. I was very pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the wines tasted. There were a few wines that struck me as over the top in one way or another, but as a group, these wines exhibited purity, balance, and acidity that many New World, and even some old world, Pinot Noir have not exhibited for years.
Cameron Hughes Lot 125 Carneros Pinot Noir 2007
Classic nose of cola, coriander, baked red berries, and mocha, spice, oak spice. Citrussy up front with a rich yet transparent feel this offers up very nice sappy and wild red berry fruit tones in a style that is a little hard and taut, in a good way and finishes with a refreshing, transparent, slightly jammy raspberry tone. Still youthful this could use another year in bottle to soften but I like it now for it’s strict mouthfeel and fine balance. 91pts
