Why I Love Red Burgundy and You Don't
So there I am, in my best ex-sommelier fashion, opening up a bottle of wine and presenting it to my husband. He says, "bring it on, baby!" When he lifts the glass to his nose for a serious swirl (he learned something from me), he wrinkles up his nose and says, "honey, if I want to smell that, I'll take the dog for a walk."
"What?" I say, "this is the 2003 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey Chambertin Combe aux Moines." "I don't care what it is," he said. It smells like poop." I lift the glass to my nose and a bit of that wonderful, earthy, Burgundian "barnyard" aroma emerges. Burgundy, sports fans, is French Pinot Noir (if it's red. If it's white, it's Chardonnay, but that's another column.) And yes, many French Pinot Noirs are stinky. Think French cheese... the French love it stinky. And they don't make their Pinot Noir for our palates.
We in the U.S. don't love stinky. We grew up on too-sweet soda, Hawaiian punch and Yoo -Hoo, and we want our Pinot Noirs to taste like cherry cola (not that there's anything wrong with that). Since the hit movie Sideways, California Pinot Noir has been selling like Sno-Cones in the Sahara. And no, it does not smell like a barnyard. It's sweet, with flavors of baking spice, cherries and plums. It's not French, but it's good! For a marvelous example of non-stinky California Pinot, try: Patz & Hall Pinot Noir 2006 Sonoma Coast, California (about $38).
"What?" I say, "this is the 2003 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey Chambertin Combe aux Moines." "I don't care what it is," he said. It smells like poop." I lift the glass to my nose and a bit of that wonderful, earthy, Burgundian "barnyard" aroma emerges. Burgundy, sports fans, is French Pinot Noir (if it's red. If it's white, it's Chardonnay, but that's another column.) And yes, many French Pinot Noirs are stinky. Think French cheese... the French love it stinky. And they don't make their Pinot Noir for our palates.
We in the U.S. don't love stinky. We grew up on too-sweet soda, Hawaiian punch and Yoo -Hoo, and we want our Pinot Noirs to taste like cherry cola (not that there's anything wrong with that). Since the hit movie Sideways, California Pinot Noir has been selling like Sno-Cones in the Sahara. And no, it does not smell like a barnyard. It's sweet, with flavors of baking spice, cherries and plums. It's not French, but it's good! For a marvelous example of non-stinky California Pinot, try: Patz & Hall Pinot Noir 2006 Sonoma Coast, California (about $38).
Tags: burgundy, french, noir, pinot, red, wine
Views: 23
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Katie Pizzuto on -
I ADORE the "funk" as I lovingly call it. I have the same issue you do at times, and people wince when they smell what's in my glass. There is nothing more ethereal to me than an earthy red Burgundy....NOTHING. It is all things woman: sensual, primal, seductive, elusive. That being said, it MUST be balanced. All funk isn't good either, no matter how much I love it! Very few CA pinots please me when I want the funk, but there are definitely some great ones (amidst a lot of not-so-great ones).
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Permalink Reply by Bob Robertson on -
May I also nominate another earthy California pinot? It's from Kasuari wine, www dot kasuariwine dot com. I have been in the Napa wine business as a winemaker and in French barrel sales for over thirty years, and my friend Michael Peters makes the most devastating west Sonoma County pinots you'll ever see. I taste a boatload of pinots every year, but this one is absolute perfection.
My old friend Andre Tchelistcheff used to get on his knees whenever he tasted a great pinot noir. I myself was honored to get a bow of the head from him, for my early 1980s efforts.
The wine is knock-your-socks-off lovely, all funk and fruit, but with a depth and a richness which will amaze you. We tasted it in a high-end Yountville restaurant with an entourage of French vintners, along side one of my favorite and most reliable Burgundies, a Morey St. Denis from Domaine Dujac. The comparison proved to be clumsy and embarrassing. Kasuari (300 cases) ROCKED. Move over, Williams-Selyem and Flowers, and let Kasuari take over!
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Permalink Reply by Katie Pizzuto on
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Awesome, Bob...I haven't tried it, but what you've said is enough to convince me to try it! Funny you mention your friend getting on his knees when he tasted a great pinot....when I taste one, it almost always brings tears of reverence to my eyes. (am i a dork or what?!?)
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Permalink Reply by Bob Robertson on
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Katie Pizzuto:
Andre Tchelischeff was the greatest winemaker in California history. He was born in Russia and died at the age of ninety. I was lucky to know him; it was like being a personal friend of Walt Disney.
He was one of the most wonderful figures in my life. He was brilliant, he was funny, and always the dapper, perfect European gentleman, in an age where the 1970s hippies (like Randall Graham, another of my mentors, Bonny Doon Cellars), took over the industry.
Andre Tchelistcheff set up the California quality wine industry in the late 1930s, decades before Robert Mondavi (whom I've also met and socialized with).
Of White Russian Cossack heritage (meaning his parents were anti-Bolshevik), he survived the Russian revolution and studied in France during the 1920s, and by the mid-1930s, as an agricultural chemist and not a winemaker, he came to California to work for Beaulieu Vineyards, which at the time was owned by a French expatriate family (Georges de LaTour and his wife).
He came to Beaulieu and within a few years, before WW2 and after, he was producing some California cabernets to rival the best of Bordeaux. When he retired fom Beauileu in the late 1970s, he became a winemaking consultant, and so a generation of us winemakers were fortunate to be trained by him.
He was also California's first expert on pinot noir, and nearly every California pinot noir producer I know, of a certain age, has some hilarious Andre stories to share.
I remember the one where he was escorting a group of dignitaries in the cellars of Beaulieu, back around 1965, when a cellarman decided to take a pee off the catwalks from the two-story high wine tanks.
Andre caught some of the droplets on his hand, took a long sniff, and pronounced, "Gewurztraminer!"
Andre Tchelistcheff is the reason I am still in this business. He's been dead now for a number of years, but he always had faith in me, and I owe my career to him. Ask any California winemaker, and they will just say, "wow, you knew ANDRE?" like knowing Ghandi. He was magic.
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Permalink Reply by Alexandre LECLERCQ on -
Hi Marlene
I just read your post, and the reply. And I am very surprise.
you explain why you like the French Pinot Noir and why the US pinot noir is so "funky", and all the people talk about the US pinot noir.
Nobody never task Burgundian pinot noir ?
I think the different is explained well : you come from of sweet ( cola and bourbon) and spicy food. Easy 2 faces for everything.
I agree with you, it isn't really easy to smell french pinot noir, especially from 2003, and La Combe aux moines is a nice plot.
So, I don't want to be so "french", but be aware about pinot noir from Burgundy. So pinot, with a lot of aromas and particularities terroirs.
But hte final question : how was the Gevrey Chambertin Combe aux moines 2003 ??
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Permalink Reply by Leo J. Baduria on -
I agree. One never forgets the lovely aromas of violets, linden, etc. in a classic Burgundy pinot noir. Once you experience this, it will always stay in your memory. Unfortunately, you never find these aromas consistently, especially with new world pinots.
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Permalink Reply by Wino on -
How many people have the opportunity to try top end Red Bugundies is an issue. To fully understand wine, you need to taste, taste and taste more... A similar experience for me was the first time I tried a top end Riesling, JJ Prum Auslese. What a mind changing wine! I now view Rieslings very differently. My point is, you cannot change someones perspective (palate?) on stories and other experiences. If I knew what stinky tasted like, in this case very good, It would change my viewpoint.
Timothy Wells
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Permalink Reply by Roger Stockton on -
The greatest attribute of pinot is the many styles of wine the grape can produce. It exemplifies 'terroir" in an age of homogenized wine making. While pinot is my favorite, it is also the most difficult wine to judge in a competition. Once you get past the basics of does it smell like a pinot, you are left with having to judge the wine based on not only yours, but other palates who love the in your face "funk" that really good pinot can have.
I love the mushrooms and earth but since I grew up on a cattle ranch downwind from a dairy, "barnyard" does not conjure up many positive images! Call me a middle of the road pinot lover.
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