Recently, I was lucky enough to attend the 7th Annual Passion for Pinot Summit. This was an opportunity for the Pinot Noir lover, Press & Trade to get together and have a Pinot Noir Taste-Off.
This is a unique event that really pulls the lid off of wine judging, and allows the average Josephine to become a wine judge for a day. While the officially judges taste 32 wines each day for an eternity until the contenders were whittled down, the attendees at the Summit were given the top 44 wines to taste blind in The Final Showdown. Additionally, the attendees at the Pinot Summit got to vote on our top 3 wines, in a Girls vs. Boys challenge, that shows us that there really is a difference in biological palates.
Below are my tasting notes from my favorites, plus the group winners by gender, and the over all judges winners for kicks. I’ve also included some tasting notes, just cuz, well, they help! Here are my 90+ pointers.
Color |
Points |
Tasting Notes |
Wine Name |
| Lilac | 92 | Rich spices, black raspberry. Dr Pepper, lavender. Herbs | Fort Ross 2005 Estate Reserve |
| Black | 92 | Brick color. Cherry, chocolate, black cherry | Sonoma Coast Vineyards 2005 Freestone Hills |
| Red | 92 | Deep dark rich red. Bright red fruit, cherry cola. Brown sugar, raspberry jam. Black cherry. Baking spices. | Left Edge Winery 2007 Bodega Rdige Vyd |
| Chartreuse | 92 | Pale, light, cola. Very light, dried oranges. | Bargetto 2006 |
| Dark Red | 91 | Pomegranate, red zinger tea, strawberry jam | RN Estate 2007 Fiddlestix Vyd |
| Khaki | 91 | Cherry cola, slight barnyard that blew off. Pomegranate, bright cherries, bark, mushrooms | Segue Cellars 2007 Filligreen Vyd |
| Coral | 90 | Back cherry, dark earth. Roses & lavender. Herbaceous. Zesty. | Heart O’ The Mountain 2006 Estate |
| Blue/Green | 90 | Light juicy, cloves & spice, mince meat | Adobe Road Winery 2006 |
| Blue | 90 | Big spicy fruit. Dr Pepper. | Vision Cellars 2007 Coster Vyds |
| Deep Purpple | 90 | Bronze red. Rhubarb pie, spicy smoke | Londer Vyds 2006 Paraboll |
| Periwinkle | 90 | Very light. Nice balance, light spice. Cherry. | Claiborne & Churchhill 2006 Twin Creeks |
| Pumpkin | 90 | Raspberry, cranberry, hibiscus, great with food. | Brutocao Cellars 2006 Estate Bottled |
| Purple | 90 | Big rich syrah like. Blackberry Jam. | David Brucie Winery 2005 Reserve |
Once the business was out of the way, the wines were unveiled, and we were invited to the Grand Tasting reception. This was when we matched our favorite wines, previously only identified as colors, to their names. This was also when we could see the medal winners from the official competition, as well as try some other offerings from the participating wineries.
Here’s how my top three compared to the rest of the attendees:
Summit Men |
Panel Men |
Summit Women |
Panel Women |
| Purple- David Bruce 2005 Reserve Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast | Red- Left Edge Winery 2007 Bodega Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noit, Sonoma Coast | Red - Left Edge Winery 2007 Bodega Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noit, Sonoma Coast | Turquoise - Bohemian Vineyard 2007 Freestone Estate Pinot Noir, Russian River |
| Periwinkle- Claiborne & Churchill 2006 Twin Creeks Pinot Noir, Edna Valley (Periwinkle) | Coral- Heart O’ The Mountain 2006 Estate Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains | TIED FOR SECOND: Orchid - Lucienne 2006 Lone Oak Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands AND Purple- David Bruce 2005 Reserve Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast |
TIED FOR SECOND: Khaki - Segue Cellars 2007 Filligreen Vineyard Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley AND Black - Sonoma Coast Vineyards 2005 Freestone Hills Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast |
| Red- Left Edge Winery 2007 Bodega Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noit, Sonoma Coast | Purple- David Bruce 2005 Reserve Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast | Pumpkin- Brutacao Cellars 2006 Estate Bottled Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley | Periwinkle- Claiborne & Churchill 2006 Twin Creeks Pinot Noir, Edna Valley |
I love how I get to compare my pallate to the “official judges” pallates, and see the results. Looks like
Thanks much to Affairs of the Vine for the invitation and the fun day! I hope everyone goes out and buys Pinot. There are great finds at every price point, and it’s a very versatile beast.
Happy Drinking!
3 Comments
Leave a Reply
Subscribe
WBC Lifetime Achievement Award
-
Luscious Lushes Wine Blog by Thea Dwelle is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.lusciouslushes.com. Do you buy wine online? Save some dough!
-
[...] you haven’t checked out the LusciousLushes’ Blog. You must! Start by reading the commentary on the Passion for Pinot #7 Summit and become a [...]
[...] of Pinot, Luscious Lush wrote a more technical review of the Pinot Summit than I did. As a matter of fact she did it with eight-by-ten colour glossy [...]
Awesome write up! Makes me wish I was there! Will take your recommendations and recreate! Thanks!