A Great Book about Pinot Noir - Part II

Last night, I finished Marq De Villiers' book The Heartbreak Grape: A California Winemaker's Search for the Perfect Pinot Noir. Josh Jensen's wisdom and experience working with Pinot is fascinating. This is a great read for any one who loves wines, is fascinated with grapes, and the pursuit for perfection.

In the 1970's UC Davis known for their pristine 'white coat wines', declared that Pinot was unsuitable for California. Josh Jensen shattered that perception and helped CA to become renowned for its Pinot.

After reading only a few chapters a couple of weeks ago, I posted some of my favorite quotes. Here are some additional ones:

• Bad Pinot Noir "tastes like burned plum" or smells "unnervingly like burnt cabbage" (p. 26)
• No one can longer say which is the 'original clonal.' Apparently, over 365 clones exist in Burgundy alone. (p. 26-27)
• "Early American Pinot Noirs had size and weight but lacked subtlety, finesse, or much character" (p. 27)
• Pinot is a 'fragile grape' for winemakers because it "...starts as a delicate wine without a strong backbone, every time you do something to it, you strip more of the body out of it. If you're striving for a rich complex wine, the less you handle it" (p. 28)
• Pinot's unique smell "the wonderful aroma of the inside of a kid glove worn by a young woman"- described by great California winemaker André Tchelistcheff (p. 29)
• On the openness of winemakers- 'The really nice thing about the best winemakers is that they're like the best chefs. They really don't have any secrets...[they] are happy to share all they know, because they know that next year they'll be creating something new and even better. They're teachers.' (Josh Jensen about his world famous mentor, André Noblet (p. 42)
• On minimal handling- Jensen was "...shocked at how little processing or handling was done to the grapes [in Burgundy]. 'These are greatest wines in the world... made by the the most bare-bones production methods— grapes, wooden casks, bottles. Not even a filter, never mind a centrifuge.'" (p. 45-46)
• "'People love to have theories about where quality comes from. For Francis Mahoney at Carneros, it's clones, the perfect vine. For others, it's the perfect barrel— say 3/4 Tronçais and 1/4 Allier oak. Others think it's the perfect yeast...For [Josh Jensen] its the limestone soil"... The Burgundians taught Jensen that limestone made the best pinot noir (p. 49 & 54)
• "From the time the vine buds to the vintage, every drop of rain, every hour of sunshine, and degree of heat has its eventual effect on the finished wine." (p. 52)
• "Pinot noir tends to lose its color in high temperature climates" (p. 54)
• On stressing the vines- If a vine is denied easy access to water, then the roots are forced deep-- sometimes 30 ft. or more. It will pick up interesting and flavorful minerals along the way. (p. 81)
• On how possessive and protective grape growers- "they become as protective, as solicitous, as worried as a father of a young girl on her first date, and if the date goes wrong...they react with...useless anger and violently protective concern." (p. 95)
• French barrels are highly desired because its "tight grain will release its desirable flavors more gradually... Oak from poor soil (in France) away from rivers is best— which is why the Nevers, Tronçais, Limousin, and Allier forts are so much in demand... American oak are loose-grained and give wines a creamy taste, but are regarded as too strongly flavored." (p. 147)
• Metrics: Only 20% of 1 oak tree is suitable for staves. 1 oak tree = 3-10 barrels; 1 barrel= 30 staves; 1 barrel= roasted for 40 mins. (p. 147-148)
• Wines improve with age because its polymers grow longer and develop more complex chains (p. 149)
• On the pros and cons of racking- Racking "diminishes color, body, and flavor". Renowned Burgundy producer, Romanée-Conti go so far as racking straight from barrel to bottle. Since they only use new barrels, there is very little variation. (p. 154)
• On its light color- Pinot is short on color because it contains only 4 pigments while Cabernet has 9, and Zinfandel has 8"" (p. 160)
• "Young vines give a certain skeleton or structure to a wine, and when they get older... more fleshiness, fatness, middle flavors, and palette will come into the wine." (p. 165)
• "You don't need a Ph.D to appreciate wine; all you need is experience" (p. 167)
• On recovering from bottle shock- About 6 months after being bottled, they're at their lowest point, then they start coming back...After a year in bottle, they are as good as when they were bottled or better. (p. 176)