It's hard to compare wines when we taste them days or weeks apart. That's why we decided to put together Pinot Noir face off tasting. Altogether we had five wines from 4 regions of the world. Our sommelier friend selected four, and one "dark horse" bottle came from us. The winner surprised all of us.
Jules Taylor Pinot Noir 2015
Marlborough, New Zealand
The first contestant was Jules Taylor Pinot Noir 2015 from Marlborough of New Zealand. On the nose blackberry, white pepper, bread, and vegetative notes. Palate cherry, green bell pepper, and black pepper. Overall, we felt it was a bit unbalanced with a sensitive tilt towards green vegetative notes on the nose and palate.
2015 Louis Boillot & Fils
Volnay, France
The second contestant was 2015 Louis Boillot & Fils from Volnay of France. The nose was a complex bouquet of blueberry, spices, roses, and earth. The palate was equally impressive with tart cherry, raspberry, cassis and toffee notes. Very pleasing village level French Pinot Noir with a price tag over $40.
2015 Failla Pinot Noir
Russian River, California
The third contestant was 2015 Failla Pinot Noir from Russian River of California. Impressive nose of barnyard, cherry, herb, spices, and boiled vegetables. The palate is ripe tart cherry, strawberry and leather notes. Surprisingly rounded and balanced Pinot Noir from California that led us to believe until revealed that it's from Oregon.
2012 Dusky Goose Pinot Noir
Dundee Hills, Oregon
The fourth contestant was 2012 Dusky Goose Pinot Noir from Dundee Hills of Oregon. On the nose barnyard, cherry and strong tobacco from the oak. The palate is cherry, prune, and strong alcohol. It was another surprise of the night because, ironically, we thought this was Californian Pinot Noir. We thought, having tried many Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs, that stylistically this wine must come from the warmer region.
2016 Jules Taylor Pinot Noir
Marlborough, New Zealand
The fifth "dark horse" bottle in this blind testing was selected by us and was unknown to our friend sommelier. To our and somm surprise, it was 2016 Jules Taylor Pinot Noir from Marlborough of New Zealand. What a coincidence?! I guess, it came down to limited options from New Zealand in our area at the time.
We immediately noticed a lot of similarities on the nose and palate with the first wine of the flight, although we didn't know (blind tasting) that both bottles came from the same producer. The 2016 vintage of Taylor PN had more fruit than the prior year, and most of us chose it over 2015 vintage.
Conclusion
Everyone unanimously placed Jules Taylor Pinot Noirs from New Zealand at the bottom because they lacked the complexity of other wines To be fair New Zealand Pinot Noirs were under $20 and competed with more expensive wine.
Louis Boillot & Fils from Volnay finished second, although, we wonder, how it would stack up to the winner if we let it stay open for an hour or two.
The surprising part of this tasting was that everyone thought that the 3rd contender (Failla PN from California) was from Oregon because of its rounded character and the 4th contender (Dusky Goose from Oregon) was from California because of its robust flavor profile. In our view, Dusky Goose was a somewhat atypical representation of Willamette Valley Pinots because, as Oregonians, most of us got accustomed to lighter and less concentrated style of wine.
2015 Failla from Russian River of California took the top spot because of its complex nose and rounded palate despite the fact that most in our group prefer Oregon Pinot Noir. We wonder how this tasting would've gone if it took place in France, New Zealand or California. Would they pick the same winner?
