World Wine Weblog

Irony 2004 Napa Valley / Carneros Pinot Noir

It's summer in Seattle, which I associate with grilling and salmon (among many other associations) ... and I associate grilled salmon with Pinot Noir.

We picked up some salmon -- generic Wild King Salmon and Yakutat Salmon -- at Whole Foods yesterday, where there were cases of the 2004 Irony Pinot Noir prominently displayed. With a wine name like Irony, a winery name of Life's Strange Twists, a $12 price tag and a description on the placard that included depth, complexity and smoke, I just had to try it.  Also, the alcohol level of 14.5% on the label -- high for a Pinot Noir -- reinforced my belief that this wine would have depth and complexity ... and it did, along with the smoke. 

The winery web site is "under contruction", and the only other description I can find on the web is at BevMo (where the 2003 version is available for $10):

90 PTS WILFRED WONG. Enticing, exotic, and another "e" word I cannot mention, the fascinating '03 Irony Pinot Noir steals the show; packed with fruit, smoked bacon rind, and pungent sour plum, tasty!

The wine paired beautifully with all four variations of salmon that we prepared: we coated half of each salmon with Tom Douglas' Salmon Rub (from the "Rub with Love" spice rub series).  The Yakutat Salmon, with 33% oil, was preferred over the regular King Salmon, with 16% oil, and the rubbed sections were preferred over the plain sections, by all members of the family.  Along with having twice as much oil content, the Yakutat Salmon is also nearly twice as expensive -- and, like Copper River Salmon and Yukon River Salmon, only available for brief periods each year.  It would be fun to arrange a multi-person multi-dimensional Salmon and Pinot Noir tasting while everything is in season ... but we may have to wait until next season.

Thanksgiving Food and Wine Pairing: Drink What You Like

I received an email asking my opinion about serving the Castle Rock 2002 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir at Thanksgiving, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some thoughts on my experience matching wines with turkey and other tradtional foods on Thanksgiving.

I remember one Thanksgiving several years ago, probably 1999 (I remember vividly that 1997 was the currently available vintage for Chateauneur-du-Pape), when I brought five bottles of wine to a Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin's house in New Hampshire.  Given that turkey was the [food] focus, I brought a couple of whites (a Fume Blanc and a Chardonnay), a Pinot Noir, a medium bodied Zinfandel and a full-throttle Zin.  My cousin-in-law, Richard, brought nothing but big reds (including the 1997 Domaine de Marcoux Chateauneuf-du-Pape, my first taste of wine of CdP ... and it was love at first taste!).  The whites and pinot noir were pretty good wines, for their style, but as soon as I started into the big reds (for which I have a strong prediliction), they fell flat, and I couldn't bring myself to drink any more ... and I was grateful that I rarely go anywhere (for dinner) without bringing at least one big red with me :-) ... and, of course, I was grateful that Richard had brought all the "right" wine, as he always does ... but then that's his job -- literally (he is the wine department manager of the Brattleboro Food Co-op).

To my surprise, despite the "better" match with the turkey that might be predicted for the whites and lighter red (using conventional wisdom), even with the food, I liked the big reds ... I guess I nearly always prefer big reds, even with lighter or medium fare (a more recent example of this preference can be seen in my experiment in pairing salmon with pinot noir and sauvignon blanc). 

Now, I still prefer a Pinot Noir (such as Castle Rock) paired with spicy Thai food than other, bigger, reds, but for a comparatively blander meal like turkey, I think the bigger the better. Since I like the Castle Rock Pinot Noir, I think it would be just fine with a Thanksgiving meal (though I suspect finding anything earlier than the 2004 vintage would be challenging at this point ... but I think the 2004 is very similar to the 2002).  However, if I had any other wines I typically like better, in general, I would opt for those.

I welcome other insights and experiences on this topic that anyone else is willing to share.

A Trio of Pinots: De Loach, Edna Valley and Willakenzie

We've been enjoying good food and wine -- and conversation -- with our old friends, the Hefferns, this weekend.  Amy, Jack and Donna picked up a bunch of seafood (salmon, halibut, tuna, crab and clams) at Pike Place Market on Friday, and we've paired these with a selection of wines over the weekend.  We determined that Sauvignon Blanc (DiStefano, 2002) goes better with crab than Pinot Noir, but confirmed an earlier preference for Pinot Noir over white wines (in this case the Sauvignon Blanc and McCrea Viognier) with salmon.

We tried three different Pinot Noirs over the weekend -- all bought for $15-20 from Fine Wines, and each one progressively "bigger" (and so, in our estimation, better).  Our first was the 2001 DeLoach Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, which had a light color and medium body. 

The 2003 Edna Valley Paragon Pinot Noir, was a bit darker and had more spice and body.  The winemaker notes say "The 2003 Edna Valley Vineyard Pinot Noir shows rich black cherry and strawberry fruit, backed by caramel and vanilla notes, a full, viscous palate, soft tannins and a lingering, smoky finish."

Our favorite was the 2003 Willakenzie Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, which their tasting panel describes as follows:

The wine’s deep, clear garnet color is an indication of the intensity of the 2003 vintage. The aromas give an initial impression of fresh, bright red and black fruits, enhanced by subtle floral tones and an appealing touch of earthiness. The flavors follow the aromas with lively red and black cherry, blackberries and currants and a hint of violets. The mid-palate is full of ripe fruit, framed by good acidity and round, well-integrated tannins. The overall impression in the mouth is generous, balanced and very pleasing. The finish is long with licorice, spice and a touch of pepper. This is a wonderfully approachable wine, which is ready to drink now and will continue to improve for the next 2- 3 years.

I will pick up more of the Willakenzie, compare it to the 2002 Hartford Pinot Noir, which was our favorite in another comparative tasting we had a few weeks ago (same price range) ... and perhaps post an update.

Chalone 2002 Estate Pinot Noir

I remember enjoying a Chalone Chardonnay, "the white wine for red wine drinkers", several years ago.  The Chalone 2002 Pinot Noir was the best of the bunch that I tried at Pete's at their monthly ad tasting a few weeks ago, and at $20 per bottle (regularly $39), I thought it was a pretty good deal.  We had it tonight and it was an excellent pairing for Pad Thai (as well as a good standalone wine). I suspect that in a blind tasting, I might mistake this Pinot Noir for a Zinfandel, it has such a jammy, concentrated fruit flavor.

From the web site:

Opulent currant and black cherry aromas are accentuated by a light earthiness, like a pine forest after rain. The same fruit elements in the powerful flavors mingle with smoky oak and vanilla notes, and build to a long, sweet finish. Big, harmonious, complex and graceful, this is delicious Pinot Noir with a promising future.

Salmon and Wine Pairing

We had salmon last night -- wild Alaskan Sockeye -- grilled with a butter, wine, garlic and herb basting.  I had to use some white for the sauce, and decided to use the opportunity to do a side-by-side accompaniment comparison of a white and a red.  The white was the Quivira 2000 Fig Tree Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, another bargain wine ($5) from Trader Joe's; the red was the Rodney Strong 2002 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, "a medium-full-bodied wine with bright red fruit character, accents of earth and smoke, and a long satiny finish," which I think I picked up for $14 at Safeway.  We both liked the way both wines tasted, alone and with the salmon, but liked the Pinot Noir better (on both counts), and so salmon and Pinot Noir may become a more standard pairing for us in the future.

Castle Rock 2002 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Another great bargain from Trader Joe's ($9 / bottle).  Amy even likes this wine, and the only other pinor noir's she's ever liked were the ones we had from Ken Wright and Chehalem at Ray's Boathouse when Meg and Richard were visiting last April -- and those were far more (5x to 10x) expensive (though they were better wines).  Many pinot noirs are just too light and delicate for either of us, but this one has considerably more substance than most.

We paired this pinot noir with thai food (from Racha Thai) and it complimented the Tom Yum soup, Pad Thai and Pad Ki Mao, very nicely.  I rarely even try to match up wine with asian food, given the nearly overwhelming spices; the only other time I succeeded was when we had a 1998 Gigondas (I forget from where) with some Malaysian food at Mandalay Cafe last year.  I suspect it's the plum flavor in both wines that combines so well with the Asian food.

This elegant well-balanced wine offers aromas of red fruit and spice.  On the palate, there are flavors of plum and cherry with oak nuances, and the finish is long and harmonious.  [From the label of the Castle Rock 2002 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir]