WWJD?
The Princess and the Pea (no)
We pause here for a word about Pinot.
Okay, several words.
Pinot Noir, not Pinot Blanc. This is a red wine blog, in case you hadn't noticed.
Pinot Noir. Eh. I simply am not wild about it. I know, I know, the movie Sideways kicked Pinot Noir into high gear, popularity-wise. Big deal. My tastebuds don't know from popular. And Pinot is all over the map. Yeah, yeah, it's a "finicky" grape. Very sensitive, very reactive to, I dunno, everything. Fog, sun, clouds, wind, weather, bumptious tourists clumping past the vines. . .
Here's what I say: Get over yourself, Pinot. What a wuss you are. Suck it up like the big boys, the Cabs and Zins and Petite Syrahs. Get some STRUCTURE already. Burgundy shmurgundy.
Yes yes, I'm quite sure you're right, and the problem is that I just haven't had a fine example of the grape. So ship me one, already. I keep trying Pinots, goodness knows I keep TRYING, and for what? They fail to impress. And woe is me, my beloved Costco is pushing the Pinots heavily, allowing them to take up a good third of the top-tier wine bins. Argyle, Erath, King Estate, Yadda Yadda. It's like a bad wine cable show: All Pinot, All the Time.
I did like the 2003 Mirassou Pinot Noir well enough. Cherry, vanilla, easy drinking. Not bad at all, and you can't beat the price with a gnarly stick. The 2003 Stephen Vincent Pinot that Laura popped over with is decent. I suppose. Can you hear the enthusiasm dripping from the keyboard? Pinot for me is like an okay writer; he's sometimes a good writer, sometimes not so good, but he's yet to be memorable. Who the hell wants to read an "okay" writer? I'm too OLD to spend time with "okay" books! I want GREAT books. Like books, wines are ubiquitous, and there are many many good, and some great, examples out there. (And yes, this is a wake-up call to the members of my reading group. Why why WHY are we still plodding through "okay" or "merely good" books? Your assignment: find some GREAT ones to recommend. And YES, Rule Number One still goes: You have to have read it yourSELF! and LOVED it!)
But Pinot Noir ain't cuttin' it for me. Which is why I can't remember the ones I've sampled. I do remember that, when someone orders a Pinot at a restaurant (needless to say, that someone ain't ME), they're generally pricey. Yes, yes, it's true, Pinot Noir is a good food wine - for when you want a red wine but all that seems to go with the salad or fish or whatever dish is white wine; then Pinot is an option.
Just not a very attractive option. I give you television, where show after show features characters sipping on a glass of some supposedly red wine. These "red" wines are always anemic-looking, as if the props people just couldn't be bothered to add a touch more dye to the dam' colored water in the goblet. This makes me CRAZY, as when someone throws in an irrelevant and highly irritating apostrophe, especially when trying to form the possessive "its," or when butchering a simple plural. As the pirate said, "ARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH!"
People, is it so hard to find a REAL red wine for the show???? These "television wines" are not the right color for a blush wine (rose'), and they simply don't have enough hue or density to be red wines. They're not crimson, or deep reddish-orange, or purply. They look fake. They do not look like wine. They are WEAK. They are the centrist Democrats of the wine world, DINOs (Democrats In Name Only) doing a lousy imitation of the real thing. Chateau Lieberman, that's what I'm saying.
My point here is that either these insipid-looking faux wines are BAD PROPS, or they're Pinots, or they're suPPOSED to be Pinots, because gee, what ELSE would our characters be delicately slurping? Gosh, I dunno, how about a Shiraz? A Tempranillo? A Malbec, a meritage, a modest Sangiovese? A wine with legs, a wine with body, a wine with COLOR? Is that too much to ask from a red wine????? I think not. And given the flaccid look of these made-for-TV wines, this wonkette would even settle for a Merlot.
What would Sandra Oh drink? Heck, what would JESUS drink? Ask yourself that. Because I do not think the Big Guy would have wasted His time turning water into Pinot. At least not the Pinots I've had.
We pause here for a word about Pinot.
Okay, several words.
Pinot Noir, not Pinot Blanc. This is a red wine blog, in case you hadn't noticed.
Pinot Noir. Eh. I simply am not wild about it. I know, I know, the movie Sideways kicked Pinot Noir into high gear, popularity-wise. Big deal. My tastebuds don't know from popular. And Pinot is all over the map. Yeah, yeah, it's a "finicky" grape. Very sensitive, very reactive to, I dunno, everything. Fog, sun, clouds, wind, weather, bumptious tourists clumping past the vines. . .
Here's what I say: Get over yourself, Pinot. What a wuss you are. Suck it up like the big boys, the Cabs and Zins and Petite Syrahs. Get some STRUCTURE already. Burgundy shmurgundy.
Yes yes, I'm quite sure you're right, and the problem is that I just haven't had a fine example of the grape. So ship me one, already. I keep trying Pinots, goodness knows I keep TRYING, and for what? They fail to impress. And woe is me, my beloved Costco is pushing the Pinots heavily, allowing them to take up a good third of the top-tier wine bins. Argyle, Erath, King Estate, Yadda Yadda. It's like a bad wine cable show: All Pinot, All the Time.
I did like the 2003 Mirassou Pinot Noir well enough. Cherry, vanilla, easy drinking. Not bad at all, and you can't beat the price with a gnarly stick. The 2003 Stephen Vincent Pinot that Laura popped over with is decent. I suppose. Can you hear the enthusiasm dripping from the keyboard? Pinot for me is like an okay writer; he's sometimes a good writer, sometimes not so good, but he's yet to be memorable. Who the hell wants to read an "okay" writer? I'm too OLD to spend time with "okay" books! I want GREAT books. Like books, wines are ubiquitous, and there are many many good, and some great, examples out there. (And yes, this is a wake-up call to the members of my reading group. Why why WHY are we still plodding through "okay" or "merely good" books? Your assignment: find some GREAT ones to recommend. And YES, Rule Number One still goes: You have to have read it yourSELF! and LOVED it!)
But Pinot Noir ain't cuttin' it for me. Which is why I can't remember the ones I've sampled. I do remember that, when someone orders a Pinot at a restaurant (needless to say, that someone ain't ME), they're generally pricey. Yes, yes, it's true, Pinot Noir is a good food wine - for when you want a red wine but all that seems to go with the salad or fish or whatever dish is white wine; then Pinot is an option.
Just not a very attractive option. I give you television, where show after show features characters sipping on a glass of some supposedly red wine. These "red" wines are always anemic-looking, as if the props people just couldn't be bothered to add a touch more dye to the dam' colored water in the goblet. This makes me CRAZY, as when someone throws in an irrelevant and highly irritating apostrophe, especially when trying to form the possessive "its," or when butchering a simple plural. As the pirate said, "ARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH!"
People, is it so hard to find a REAL red wine for the show???? These "television wines" are not the right color for a blush wine (rose'), and they simply don't have enough hue or density to be red wines. They're not crimson, or deep reddish-orange, or purply. They look fake. They do not look like wine. They are WEAK. They are the centrist Democrats of the wine world, DINOs (Democrats In Name Only) doing a lousy imitation of the real thing. Chateau Lieberman, that's what I'm saying.
My point here is that either these insipid-looking faux wines are BAD PROPS, or they're Pinots, or they're suPPOSED to be Pinots, because gee, what ELSE would our characters be delicately slurping? Gosh, I dunno, how about a Shiraz? A Tempranillo? A Malbec, a meritage, a modest Sangiovese? A wine with legs, a wine with body, a wine with COLOR? Is that too much to ask from a red wine????? I think not. And given the flaccid look of these made-for-TV wines, this wonkette would even settle for a Merlot.
What would Sandra Oh drink? Heck, what would JESUS drink? Ask yourself that. Because I do not think the Big Guy would have wasted His time turning water into Pinot. At least not the Pinots I've had.
posted by Winetaster | 7:27 AM
2 Comments:
You're not old...though it surprises me you watch television. Probably because you're having as much luck finding a good (not to mention 'great') book as I am. I've resorted to ordering the 'Gilmore Girls' episodes from Netflix and viewing them in order from the pilot onwards...we're up to season 4, disc 5 and thoroughly entertained! Yes, it's television, but not mediocre television and President imbecile never cuts in to assure us that he would NEVER violate the Constitution...he just spies on us for our own good, what harm in that? But I digress...wine...I think I need some. I've wondered if Jesus ever tried that Ethiopian stuff they discuss on the Starbuck's site--it's made from coffee cherries...sounds intriguing. I don't think Costco carries it, though.
you're right, i like this one a lot! i know nossing about vino but what i learned in sideways so thank you!
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