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Vintage Port Tasting & Wine Dinner (4 seats remain)
Wednesday, January 30th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Presenter: Roy Hersh of For The Love of Port
If you are in any way interested in Port or Madeira, then it is likely your interest has lead you to Roy Hersh. Considered one of the world's authorities on the subject, Roy has catalogued hundreds of tasting notes on Port and Madeira, some over 100 years old. We are bringing Roy in from Seattle just for this event.
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School Nights @ Park Tavern: Pinot Noir
Monday, February 4th (The Piedmont Room @ Park Tavern)
Instructor: Beth Nowak of Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines

February is the month for Pinot Noir, one of the most sensuous wines! More Info

The Romance of Italy (7 seats remain)
Tuesday, February 5th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Instructor: Paul Kelly Wheeler

"When the wine hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's amore! More Info

Sexy & Seductive Pinot Noir
Wednesday, February 20th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Presenter: Michael Bryan

Pinot Noir's feminine textures and characteristics has compelled many to fall prey to this beguiling vino-vamp. Alluring and tempting, Pinot Noir is at once athletic and crisp, and at other times velvety, rich and opulent. More Info

Valentine's Day Celebration!
Tuesday, February 14th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Host: Paul Kelly Wheeler

Picture flowers and candles--lots of em. Excellent dinner-portioned heavy hors d'oeuvres, and amazing wines. Romantic music. More Info

Jane's Monthly Dozen: Pinot Noir
by Jane Garvey

After Miles, the main character in the film Sideways, totally turned American wine palates on their taste buds with his positive comments about Pinot Noir, Americans launched a virtual search and destroy mission for the wines. Some vintners, it’s rumored, took to pumping up their Pinot with Petit Sirah to boost the body and extend the supply line, a practice abjured by purists.

For wine lovers who get high on finesse and elegance, nothing beats Pinot Noir in red wines. It's the wine you can take to any meal if you're in charge of the beverage and you have no clue what the host is planning to serve. Loving Pinot Noir may take a little understanding for the beginning wine enthusiast, but the learning curve is worth the effort.

The grape gets its name, it's thought, from the shape of the bunch because it resembles a pine cone (pin, in French). Blanc, Gris (or Grigio), Meunier and Noir all are clones of Pinot. Chardonnay once was known as Pinot Chardonnay. DNA typing has identified other kindred types, among them Aligote, Gamay noir, Melon and even Austria's St.-Laurent.

Pinot Noir is the grape of red French Burgundy, while in the U.S., Oregon claims Pinot Noir as its own, as it shares latitude with Burgundy. David Lett of Eyrie Vineyards first planted it in Oregon's Willamette Valley in 1965, so the grape's history in Oregon is completely a modern one. But, good Pinot also comes from other parts of Oregon, as well as from California and New York, about which more below.

As prices for good Burgundy reach monstrous triple digit figures, other regions become sources for great values in Pinot Noir. Now, Pinot Noir fans may find character-filled Pinot Noir from a surprising number of regions. One intrepid soul even has it planted in north Georgia (Sharp Mountain Vineyards). Habersham Vineyard and Winery once had Pinot Noir, but owner Tom Slick found that while the wine wasn't half bad, it wasn't good enough to suit him for the effort it took to produce it. So he ripped it out.

Biltmore Estate in North Carolina has planted it, and Messina Hof in Texas still produces it. (Not bad either.) But it is a finicky grape to grow, and requires a cool climate with generous diurnal differences (day-night temperature differences) to slow down ripening. Efforts to produce Pinot Noir in Paso Robles, for instance, meet with undesirable results in my view as the resulting wines tend to be heavy, alcoholic and monochromatic. That alcoholic heat can be tempered by serving the wine cool and with rich foods, but it's not desirable, in my view.

The grape yields a variety of nuances. In Burgundy, one looks for good fruit but also a certain earthiness that recalls for me the aroma of my grandfather's mushroom cellar, a fragrant combination of composted organic matter and young 'shrooms. Some folks call it "barnyard," and that's the likely result of Brettanomyces, or "Brett" for short. Caused by a spoilage yeast, it's considered a flaw, but a certain form of it can add character to the wines. Out of control in the winery, it's a disaster.

Of course, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier also are important in Champagne, where they form the stuff of that region's famed wines along with (Pinot) Chardonnay. And Pinot Noir is grown in Alsace. .
In Australia, look for Pinot Noir from Yarra Valley north of Melbourne (Sticks) Tasmania (where it has a major role in "Tassie's" excellent sparklers, such as Jansz), and the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne (Pairinga Estate and Morningstar Estate).

New Zealand is known for Pinot Noir from Marlborough, but I prefer Martinborough and Central Otago as they're more savory in character, with plenty of fruit but aren't fruit bombes.
Austria and Germany both grow fine Pinot Noir, called Blauburgunder and Spatburgunder respectively. In Germany's Ahr, a northern district, the grape doesn't get as much color as elsewhere, but still develops fine flavors. Even Moldova has gotten into the Pinot Noir act.

I've had nice Pinot Noir out of Canada, notably off Vancouver Island, where Blue Grouse does a fine job with the grape. In New York the Finger Lakes can turn up pretty good Pinot Noir. (With 45 acres, Warm Lake Estate in Lockport, NY, has the largest planting of Pinot Noir east of the Rockies.)

South Africa is emerging with Pinot Noir in Walker Bay (Hamilton Russell) and Elgin (Paul Cluver). The wines are very food flexible; I've even enjoyed the Paul Cluver with an Indian lamb dish (but make sure it's not wicked hot).

In South America, Pinot Noir is being planted at high altitudes in Argentina, and in Chile it's becoming important in the South.

California has a slew of regions that grow Pinot Noir, with Russian River Valley and Carneros probably being the best known. But Sonoma Coast does very good Pinot Noir, as do Monterey and Santa Barbara.
Below you'll find some Pinots that are a bit "outside the box," that is from zones that may be new to you for Pinot Noir production. Explore these with all sorts of foods, even dark chocolate for those that are most fruit-forward, and be sure to serve them cool. Nothing drags a Pinot down worse than serving it warm. So serve it cool to the touch, abou6 60 degrees, in a large-bowl Burgundy glass, and you'll find that doing so energizes the fruit while helping to suppress any excessive alcohol.

A final note: All these wines continued to taste amazingly on target days after being opened, indicating their potential longevity and making them good choices for enjoying over several days. Simply re-cork or re-close with the screwcap and refrigerate, then take out of the refrigerator a few minutes before serving.