In Quest of Oregon’s Pinot Noir
Episode #109
The International Pinot Noir Celebration outside Portland, Oregon has become
an annual pilgrimage for lovers of this food-friendly red wine. Karen MacNeil
dives into the festival, pairing Pinot Noir with two of Oregon’s best-loved
foods: fresh grilled salmon and wild mushrooms.
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Pinot Noir is a grape that spans cuisines around the globe from the old world to the new world. Let’s look back at the great pairings we’ve tried in this episode. First, we paired sushi and burgundy, but really any light to medium bodied Pinot Noir would do great. Then we paired a Pinot Noir with one of its traditional partners: mushrooms. The hearty flavors of wild mushrooms simply prepared brought out the earthiness in the Pinot. And finally, it was whole salmon baked over an open fire. We used a full-bodied California Pinot, but you could try almost any Pinot Noir and it’s sure to please. So that was sushi and Burgundy, mushrooms and Oregon Pinot Noir, and roasted salmon with a California Pinot.
Most wine books, including Karen MacNeil's The Wine Bible, advise you to look at a wine’s color before you taste. But what can you really tell about a wine from its color? Actually, two things. The color of a wine is a tip-off to its variety. Pinot Noir, for example, is always a light brick color, whereas Zinfandel is a dark, saturated, almost purple color. The color of a wine is also a tip-off to the wine’s age. All red wines get lighter as they get older and all white wines get darker. But here’s one thing you can never tell about a wine from its color, and it may surprise you. The intensity of the color is no indication of the intensity of the flavor. It may be tempting to think of darker wine as richer and more flavorful than a lighter wine, but that’s not necessarily the case. The lighter wine well may prove to be the more flavorful. In the end, you’ve got to taste a wine to tell anything about its flavor. But of course, that’s the fun part anyway.
Jack Czarnecki and the Joel Palmer House
http://www.joelpalmerhouse.com
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