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PinotFile

The First Wine Newsletter Exclusively Devoted to Pinot Noir

In Pinot

veritas

Good, Better, Brogan

I can remember the day very clearly. I was on my first trip to Sonoma. It Volume 4, Issue 23

was the early 90 and previously I had mainly visited high-profile Napa

s January 31, 2005

wineries like Mondavi, Beringer, and Chateau Montelena. I had become

enamored with Williams Selyem Pinot Noirs and eagerly anticipated my

winery visit. A tiny sign on the mail box directed my turn off Westside Brogan Cellars Pinot

Road. I pulled up an unpaved driveway and parked next to a small nonde- Noir was prominently

script shed-like building. The first person I met was Margaret Wierenga, consumed on the Ozzie

Osbourne TV Show .

Burt William daughter. As we stood around the old stainless steel milk

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vats used for fermentation and talked Pinot, I realized for the first time that The 2001 Brogan Cel-

lars RRV Pinot Noir

wineries are about people, not facilities.

won the Red Wine

Sweepstakes Award at

Margaret (Margi) Wierenga worked for her father for several years where

the Sonoma County

she became well-acquainted with his style and philosophy of winemaking. Harvest Fair.

In 1998 she finally struck out on her own, starting Brogan Cellars. Like

Brogan slogans in-

her father, she has sourced only top-quality vineyards for her wines in- clude: Break Out the

cluding Summa Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast and Lone Redwood Ranch Brogan and How

Does Your Brogan

in the Russian River Valley. Although Burt Williams is prevented from con-

Grow?

sulting on her wines by the non-compete agreement signed with the sale

of Williams Selyem in 1997, his influence is evident in her superb Pinot

Noirs. One wine writer described her style as a fist in a velvet glove .

Burt Williams does currently have a ranch and vineyard in the Anderson

Valley (Philo) which will be supplying fruit for a Brogan Cellars My Inside this issue:

Father Vineyard bottling next year.

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Film Pinot Noir 2

Brogan Cellars is developing a winery in Hopland, 30 miles north of

Healdsburg on Hwy 101. Projected production will be 1,500 cases a year.

Women Drawn to 3

The wines are highly allocated and available by mailing list only. Phone Pinot Noir

Margi at 707-***-****, or better, e-mail her at abqk0k@r.postjobfree.com.

Grape Radio 3

2003 Brogan Cellars Russian River Valley Pinot Noir $45. 14.1% alc.

This is the quintessential RRV Pinot Noir. Dark raspberry and cherry fla-

Australian

vors with cola and dark spices adding to the graceful structure. Succulent. 4

Postscript

2003 Brogan Cellars Summa Vineyard Young Vines Sonoma Coast

Pinot Noir $55 14.5% alc. Amazingly complex and interesting. Dark,

Natural Selection 4

earthy and flush with impressive cherry and berry fruit. A young giant

that needs a little cellaring.

2003 Brogan Cellars Lingenfelder Vineyard Russian River Valley

Pinot Noir $40 14.7% alc. The most intense of the trio. Impressively

built with luscious fruit flavors. A well-oaked big boy.

Volume 4, Issue 23 Page 2

Film Pinot Noir

The Golden Globe Award Winning film, Sideways, has created quite an interest in Pinot Noir and Santa Barbara

County. Fox Searchlight Pictures, along with the Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau, created a map

outlining all of the wineries, restaurants and other sites in the movie. 10,000 copies of the map were printed

last October prior to the L.A. premiere and by Thanksgiving weekend, all were gone (you can still get a copy

by going to www.santabarbaraCA.com and downloading Sideways, The Map ). Sanford saw a 50% increase

in Pinot Noir sales in December compared to a year earlier. Business at the 52-year-old Hitching Post Restau-

rant is up 20%. Nationally, retailers have noticed a surge in Pinot Noir sales and both the New York Times and

Boston Globe recently reported a marked increase in sales. The Hitching Post Highliner Pinot Noir ($48), a top

cuvee of the label, was ordered by Miles by name in the movie, and sales have skyrocketed. Retailers like

Winebid.com and Root Cellar in Healdsburg have offered a collection of wines featured in the movie. Side-

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ways-themed dinners seem to be de rigueur. If you do plan a dinner, be sure and have the sound track on hand

(New Line Records). It is a collection of excellent jazz by the Sideways Jazz Orchestra and includes renditions

of (seriously) Slipping Away as Mum Sleeps, Walk to Hitching Post, and I Not Drinking Any Merlot!

m

For those seeking the full Sideways experience, read the novel by Rex Pickett (St. Martin Griffin, 2004, soft-

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bound). The lineup of Pinot Noirs is a little different (some are not in the movie, and some in the movie, like

Sea Smoke Botella, are not in the novel). For you trivia buffs, here are the Pinot Noirs mentioned or drank in

the novel: Gary Farrell Sonoma and Rochioli, Byron Sparkling Wine, 1995 Williams Selyem Olivet Lane, 1999

Sanford La Rinconada, 1999 Hitching Post Bien Nacido and Highliner, Byron Sierra Madre, Foxen, Longoria,

1999 Kistler Rochioli (there is no such wine that I am aware of but the line while drinking it is classic This

Kis is delish ), 1996 Comte Armand Pommard, 1999 Ponzi Reserve, 1998 Tantara Bien Nacido, Babcock, 1985

DRC La Tache, 1990 Jayer Richebourg, Au Bon Climat, Talley Rosemary, and Brewer-Clifton. Non-Pinot wines

in the novel include Veuve Cliquot, 1982 Latour, Petrus, Andrew Murray, and 1997 Silver Oak Napa (no 1961

Cheval Blanc).

There are a number of lines in the novel by Miles that are a bit too risqu or inappropriate for the screen:

We worship Bacchus and sing hymns in the nude

Maya, Indian goddess of illusions. Siren of shipwrecked sailors. If only you lactated Pinot Noir, you

d

be perfect.

Let board the bullet train to the Cote d

s Or!

Smelling the cork is like sniffing a woman butt before you have sex with her

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Volume 4, Issue 23 Page 3

Women Drawn to Pinot Noir

I have noted a trend of late. In the early years of the PinotFile (2001, 2002) a

big majority of my subscribers were men. In the past six months, the majority

has shifted to women. I polled a few of my readers and have some interesting

ideas to explain this drift.

Women are researching the internet more and are active in buying and

choosing wines, planning dinners, and wine weekend trips. Woman now are

responsible for spending 80% of the consumer dollar. In her book, Wine for

Women: A Guide to Buying, Pairing and Sharing, Sonoma author Leslie Sbracco

points out that women ask different questions. Men ask about ratings, prices.

Women ask lifestyle questions. Women focus on taste and style, not ratings.

It all about enjoyment. She goes on to stress that food is strongly con-

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nected to wine, but much more so for women than for men, stressing that taste,

style, food and sharing are factors critical to a woman involvement with

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wine.

Valerie Wathen of Dutton-Goldfield Winery points out that many women take the clich wine drinker route:

start with Chardonnay and Merlot, maybe try inexpensive Pinot Noirs that did not stir much interest because of

their prune/raisin quality, but eventually settle on Pinot Noir as the wine of choice after tasting premium

Pinot Noir from good producers.

I believe many women become interested in Pinot Noir in particular because they are better tasters than men.

They find the complex aromatics and taste of Pinot Noir appealing. Woman are not attracted to tannic wines.

In addition, they are often cooks and look for food-friendly wines like Pinot Noir. Women also quickly dis-

cover that Pinot Noir is the varietal on wine lists in restaurants that pairs with the most food choices.

The Australian Wine Bureau and Match.com, the global leader in online dating, recently released their find-

ings from an online survey of single Americans about their attitudes toward wine and romance. Single Ameri-

cans almost always choose wine to reflect their personalities and lifestyle on the first date over any other

beverage. 72% felt that knowledge about wine makes a member of the opposite sex more attractive. 83% of

singles agreed that a glass of wine can make an already special moment even more romantic. With women

realizing that their choice of beverage provides their companion with insight into their personality and life-

style, it is not surprising that Pinot Noir, which is often described as all satin and silk is their first choice.

Grape Radio

There is a new wine podcast show, Grape Radio, at www.graperadio.com. It is advertised as The place

where sharing a tremendous enthusiasm for wine gets personal. Hosted by wine enthusiasts Brian Clark,

Leigh Older, and Jay Selman, one or two shows are produced on a weekly basis. These shows consist of the

three hosts sharing their opinions and experiences with the audience. Topics include the enjoyment of wine,

wine news, and industry trends. The scope of the shows will be international. Each show will feature guest

interviews with winemakers, vineyard owners, wine retailers, restaurateurs, and sommeliers. For example,

Grape Radio Show #3, January 25th, 2005, focuses on Senior Wine Buyer John Downing from Hi-Time Wine

Cellars in Costa Mesa, California.

You can either directly download the podcast on the website, or subscribe. The concept is well presented.

Three knowledgeable guys sitting around discussing wine on a nonpretentious level. Very informative.

Volume 4, Issue 23 Page 4

Natural Selection:

A herd of buffalo only moves as fast as the slowest buf-

falo and when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest buf-

falo at the back that is killed first. This is good for the

herd as a whole, because the general speed and health

of the whole group keeps improving by the regular

attrition of the weakest members.

In much the same way, the human brain can only oper-

P rinceofPinot.com

ate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Intake of alcohol,

we all know, kills brain cells, but naturally it attacks

the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way,

regular consumption of Pinot Noir eliminates the

weaker brain cells, making the brain faster and a more

efficient machine. This is why you always feel smarter

after two glasses of Pinot Noir!

Australia Postscript

I misquoted Andy Tan in the last newsletter. Regarding Tasmania Pinot Noirs, all of them are influenced by

Andrew Hood who is a consultant for Domaine A and not the winemaker.

Moondarra Pinot Noir was omitted from Andy Tan recommendations. His added comments: This cutting

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edge label is owned by Neil Prentice (former Melbourne-based sommelier/restaurateur) and made by Sandro

Mosele and Neil at the Kooyong facility. This Domaine Leroy-inspired Pinot Noir specialist is turning out some

of the most impressive Pinot Noirs I have tasted from Australia. Intense, wood-infused, and yes! black cherries,

blackberries. Previously due to the practice of no destemming, the wine can at times carry too much minty,

stalky element. The new vintage of Conception (starting with 2003) has shown more fruit purity and the previ-

ous fault has slowly been removed. In addition, Sandro Mosele from Kooyong has continued turning out more

impressive releases of his single-vineyard Pinot Noirs. In 2003, there will be Haven, Ferrous, and Meres. All

are distinctively different, well-crafted Pinot Noirs. Andy Tan will be co-producing a Pinot Noir with Sandro

Mosele from the 2004 vintage (fruit from Kooyong Ferrous Vineyard). Note: I did have the pleasure of drink-

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ing the 2001 Moondara, Conception (provided by Andy Tan and Dr Jonathan Chan) at a dinner a few months

past. I have fond memories of a superbly-crafted, complex Pinot that piqued my interest in Aussie Pinot.

I did not comment on vintage variation in Australia. Generally it is not significant in the warm regions, but

there can be variation in the marginal cooler regions (especially Tasmania) where most of the Pinot Noir is

planted. 2000 was an outstanding year for the Mornington Peninsula, 2001 was excellent in Victoria, but mixed

in Tasmania due to rain and frost, 2002 was a difficult and variable year in Southern Australia, 2003 was excel-

lent in Victoria and more variable in Tasmania, and 2004 looks to be a very good vintage for both Victoria and

Tasmania.

Two excellent sources for further information and offerings of Australian and New Zealand wines are:

The Down Under Digest by Chuck Hayward, through the retailer Jug Shop in San Francisco, jugshop.com and

The WineDeli Newsletter from the retailer WineDeli in Queenstown, NZ, winedeli.com.

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