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The Emperor's New Pinot
11th July 2008
I have been troubled lately by the Pinot Noir that I have been drinking. All but a few seem dilute and lifeless, tasting of alcohol at most and nothing but liquid with a suggestion of fruit at worst, and it made me start thinking about the future of the grape variety in Australia and the path the it seems to be headed in. I love this grape variety and I feel awkward when people ask me about the ones they should be buying. I want to be as confident in offering suggestions as I am with Riesling or Shiraz, and hope I soon can be.
The noble Pinot Noir, the grape that makes Red Burgundy has its home in a cold part of the world, that makes not one style from the grape but a few, dictated by village laws and various soil and terroir of the vineyards. All are 100% Pinot Noir, yet their expressions are varied and the similarities between them and the many replicas in the New World are scant.
I want to share how good Pinot Noir can be, how its awesome expression is without an English translation, or a French one for that matter. Glorious comes close, but then it's just a word, and the greatest human experiences are never quite well enough described by language. I believe that everyone should experience the joy, pleasure and feeling of total helplessness in this wine's presence. All of these things can happen to you when Pinot Noir is transcendent.
Pinot Noir changed my view of the wine world. The concentration, texture, length of flavour, and something that words cannot describe...a smell that rises above the ordinary and permeates your body, bringing on breathlessness and goosebumps, and total satisfaction. This exact response occurred to me when trying the two wines that changed my perspective, before that, wine had been great, but not like this. The two wines were from Burgundy, one was 2000 DRC Richebourg and the real heart stopper was the 1995 Leroy Latriciers Chambertin.
While these wines would obviously have stratospheric price tags and are not just more expensive than most Australian Pinot Noir, but just about any Australian wine at all, I have been searching for these qualities and this experience ever since. While there are a handful of Australian Pinot Noir that achieve this in essence, the majority are being relentlessly stripped of their flavour and soul, by filtering and fining to make a squeaky clean wine that doesn't throw a deposit. We are producing wines that are a counterpoint to the big Shiraz styles, simply to be in opposition, forgetting that structure and power are not solely in the domain of Coonawarra and the Barossa Valley. Pinot Noir is a very difficult grape to make into good wine, let alone great wine, and far too often the new vintages are consumed well before they have a chance to blossom. There are a select few Australian Pinot Noir that offer that heart stopping moment, that "eyes wide" look as you bring your head up from the glass and see other people in similar awe. It's not that it can't be done; it's just not being done enough.
I find that in Australia we have a wine drinking base that are well versed in the achievements of our Shiraz and Cabernet makers and Riesling producers too, they seem to understand the heights of these grapes achievements and how cheaper styles can be placed on a quality line heading towards greatness. To put it more plainly, they know when a cheap Shiraz is good and when one is bad, because more often than not they have tried great Shiraz. I believe Pinot Noir's first failing in Australia is that not enough people have tried great Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is not meant to be a light simple wine. It is not meant to fill the soft and supple gap that Merlot once occupied. Pinot Noir is serious and structured and powerful and customers don't have the appropriate framework to benchmark the wines that they are being served. That is, they don't have the sensory memory of something great, or even good, to confidently say, ̢ہ"If that's what you call Pinot Noir nowadays, I don't like it!"
It is exactly as if the emperor is showcasing his new wine that tastes of nothing and offers nothing, and the crowds are screaming for more, and that's jut not on.
I love Pinot Noir, I love the way it has shown me a side to the world of wine no one could ever have described in words. I love the thought of having one of those wine moments again; however, I am saddened to think, that unless in this instance we follow some already established paths, we will be taking away what Pinot Noir has the ability to do. I think we have an obligation to not dumb down a product or strip it of its inherent nature. We have an obligation to teach people about structure and tannins, and expose those wines that leave the basic building blocks on the winery floor.
I would love to hear your opinion and for this to be a conversation. I acknowledge the difficulties in making Pinot Noir, every wine maker I have spoken to and every book I have read tells me how hard it is. Perhaps we should introduce an appellation system that means wines that don't meet basic standards have to be labelled table wine, with no grape variety and no vintage on them, so as not to sully the reputation of certain grape varieties and styles. Should there be a minimum level of quality for Pinot Noir? Should I be able to buy a Pinot Noir for under $20 a bottle? Perhaps this can be the start of an informal gathering of knowledge that offers everyone access to the greatest Pinot, not just the ones with big marketing budgets.
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