The 'Sideways' Effect

*stolen from the Wall Street Journal


TASTINGS By DOROTHY J. GAITER AND JOHN BRECHER

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher write "Tastings," the weekly wine column of The Wall Street Journal. They also are the authors of "Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion," "Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes from a Marriage" and "The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine." A complete revision of that book, called "The New and Improved Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine," was published in September 2002. Ms. Gaiter and Mr. Brecher have been married since 1979. Ms. Gaiter was a national reporter and editor covering issues of race for the Journal from 1990 to 2000. Mr. Brecher was Page One Editor of the Journal from 1992 to 2000. They began writing "Tastings" in 1998 and became full-time wine columnists in 2002.

Charting the 'Sideways' Effect

What a Moment In the Spotlight Did For U.S. Pinot Noir

September 7, 2007; Page W3

Given its rocky history in America, we were surprised to discover a few years ago that Pinot Noir under $20 had become a far better bet than American Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot at that price. But that was BS -- Before "Sideways." We hadn't conducted a broad blind tasting of inexpensive American Pinot produced after that 2004 movie made this once-underappreciated grape trendy and cool. In our experience, wines that suddenly become popular often suffer for it, with winemakers pumping out oceans of bad stuff to try to catch the wave. Has this happened to Pinot? We lined up more than 50 bottles to find out.

By now, Pinot's story in the U.S. is well-known. The great grape of red Burgundy, which tends to be finicky and enjoys cooler weather, was dismissed in the U.S. for decades. But as winemakers found the right places to grow it -- a process that is continuing -- it finally gained respect. California began producing some high-end, world-class Pinots as well as some surprisingly good examples under $20. Oregon is making its reputation on Pinot. In the midst of all of this came "Sideways," with its Pinot-loving anti-hero and his famous quotation: "It's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's not a survivor like Cabernet that can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it's neglected. ...Only when someone has taken the time to truly understand its potential can Pinot be coaxed into its fullest expression. And when that happens, its flavors are the most haunting and brilliant and subtle and thrilling and ancient on the planet."

Who wouldn't want to try a wine like that? The result: Interest in Pinot has risen dramatically. There's more of it than ever on shelves. Americans are even checking out Pinots from other New World wine producers, with New Zealand making a big push for its Pinot.

In tastings in both 2003 and early 2005, we found that there was a great deal to like about Pinot under $20 from the 2000 to 2003 vintages. While top American Pinot and fine Burgundy have layers of haunting complexity and a velvety texture that seems to flow right into the more romantic reaches of our souls, the less-expensive wines offer simpler delights: bright fruit, good acidity, easy drinkability and wide compatibility with a huge array of foods, from salmon and roast chicken to braised short ribs.

Oregon on the Rise

Or at least that was the case. Is it still? We bought 50 wines that cost about $20 or less from California and Oregon to find out. We picked up wines from the 2005 and 2006 vintages, both because they are most widely available and because these often are meant to be drunk young and fresh. We focused on names you're most likely to see, but added a few from more-obscure wineries as well. The first pleasant surprise was how many examples we found from Oregon. While Oregon is producing some outstanding Pinot at the high end, we hadn't found many inexpensive examples in the past. This time, about 15% of our sample came from Oregon. As always, we were not looking for "America's best Pinot," but were trying to get an overall sense of the state of the art under $20. (We decided to be a little flexible on the $20 limit because we found so many wines bumping right against that price where we shopped and it turned out that a more-representative price would be slightly higher.)

Having completed the blind tasting over several nights, we're back with good news, and a whole bunch of asterisks. The good news is that Pinot continues to be consistently reliable. While there were few wines that hit heights, a large number were bright, fun, easy and bursting with good fruit. Unlike Merlot, Cabernet and many other inexpensive reds both from the U.S. and elsewhere, these were not oaky, not sweet and not heavy. If you are at a wine shop or a grocery store looking for an interesting, tasty red for dinner, we'd continue to urge you to head to the Pinot Noir aisle.

Our best of tasting, to our surprise and delight, was Robert Mondavi. That classic winery went through a very rough period for a while and was sold in 2004 to giant Constellation Brands. The wine we tasted, the 2005, was classy, rich and tasted expensive, which gives us hope that the Mondavi name, under the new owners, might once again be ready to shine. Here's the first asterisk, though: We paid $19.99 for this at a store in New Jersey, but, when checking prices nationwide later, found that it's generally more.

Our two other favorites that rated Very Good were also interesting surprises, for different reasons. One was an organic wine from Frey Vineyards. We have written before about the tremendous strides in organic and organically grown wines and this was one of the best we've had -- fresh, real and delightful. But as the label of this wine points out, storage is especially important with wines with very low sulfite levels so these need to be bought from a good merchant who has kept them well and should be consumed early. (See our recent column about organic wines.)

The Time is Now

Our other favorite was an utter delight from Willamette Valley Vineyards. In our notes, we described it as "Beaujolais-like" because of its jazzy color and vibrant, just-picked tastes. That wasn't coincidence. It turns out that this was made in a special way -- carbonic maceration, in which fermentation takes place within whole, unbroken grapes -- that is best-known for giving Beaujolais its fresh, fruity, drink-me-now tastes. This was a lovely bottle, but will never be better than it is today.

The biggest, and most troubling, asterisk of the tasting became apparent as we catalogued our favorites at the end. While the 50 wines represented prices all over the map, all but two of our favorites cost $15.99 or more. In fact, one-third of our nine favorites cost more than $20 in many stores. This is quite different than the results in previous tastings and makes us a bit worried that Pinot's popularity has caused a price run-up that could keep it from being an everyday treat. We will keep a very close eye on this.

But that brings us to one last point: Because of the big surplus of wine in France, some American wine producers now bottle French wine under their American labels. As we looked around for our Pinots for this tasting, we were surprised to find Pinot Noirs from Camelot, Echelon and Beaulieu that looked just like they always did -- except for the "Vin de Pays" in small letters at the bottom of the label, which shows it's actually a French wine. They were generally less expensive than the American Pinots and the Beaulieu, especially, was an excellent deal at $7.47. It reminded us of the simple, no-nonsense, highly gulpable wines we drank this summer at cafés in Paris, and it's hard to give a wine a higher compliment than that.

The Dow Jones Inexpensive Pinot Noir Index

In a tasting of American Pinot Noir around $20 or less from the 2005 and 2006 vintages, these were our favorites. We paid less than $20 for Mondavi, Willamette Valley and Frei, but their more-representative prices are higher.

VINEYARD/VINTAGE
PRICE
RATING
TASTERS' COMMENTS

Robert Mondavi Winery 2005 (Carneros)
$23.00*
Very Good
Best of tasting. The real thing: rich, with deep, Bing cherry fruit, gentle tannins and a long, dry, pure-fruit finish. Good balance of fruit, acidity and weight. Could age a bit.

Frey Vineyards 2006 (Mendocino)
$15.99
Very Good
Best value. Ephemeral and very fine, with some nice Burgundy-like funkiness to add character. Very real and special. It's organic, with no detectable sulfites, so make sure it has been kept well, and drink it soon.

Willamette Valley Vineyards "Whole Cluster Fermented" 2006 (Willamette Valley, Ore.)
$22.00*
Very Good
Jammy and jazzy, like Beaujolais, and just as delightful. Pure, clean, lovely fruit that says, "Let's party!"

Beringer Founders' Estate 2005 (California)
$9.99
Good/ Very Good
Light, pleasant and very easy, bursting with fresh cherry fruit. Fun. Repeat favorite.

Bogle Vineyards 2005 (Russian River Valley)
$11.99
Good/ Very Good
Especially good with food. Lovely, simple fruit, nicely dry with a dash of lemon, happy to be a supporting player in a meal. A good name in value-priced wine.

Chateau St. Jean 2005 (Sonoma County)
$19.99
Good/ Very Good
Rich, with some depth, mouthfeel and earth. Bigger and more serious than most, requiring more substantial food.

Francis Coppola "Diamond Collection, Silver Label" 2006 (California)
$17.00*
Good/ Very Good
Pleasant and comforting, with an easy delivery of black cherries and cranberries. Charming. Can take a chill. Reliable name.

Frei Brothers "Reserve" 2005 (Russian River Valley)
$22.50*
Good/ Very Good
Quite pleasant, with lovely, ripe fruit. Some richness, earth and minerals. Real wine. Repeat favorite.

Sipino (Yamhill Valley Vineyards) 2005 (Willamette Valley, Ore.)
$16.99
Good/ Very Good
Interesting. It starts with lots of juicy blackberries, but then turns slightly viney and herbal, in a good, true way. Very drinkable, but also complex enough to hold interest.