Critic's rating: 90
There's probably no harder thing to find in the wine world than a good, cheap Pinot Noir.
The grape doesn't lend itself to budget viticulture. It wants to be picked by hand and gently crushed, not shaken off its vine by a machine and roughly tossed around in a giant tank.
Mainly, though, Pinot Noir wants to grow in a cool area, with plenty of fog. In California that's a problem because cool spots are on the coast, where the real estate is most expensive.
Chile's Casablanca Valley solves this problem, at least for the moment, before the world recognizes what the Chileans have there. The region has a deserved reputation in Europe as the source of consistently good, cheap Sauvignon Blanc. But the Pinot Noir isn't well known, though wines like this could change that. So the land is still cheap, which means the grapes and wines are cheap too.
This is not a boutique wine: it's a big brand. Look at that price. I'd like to spin the fiction of terroir, of some curmudgeonly seventh-generation grower sleeping among the vines in summer, in touch with their inner souls, coaxing out all their complexity. (Hmm, maybe I should get a job writing some wine marketing.)
But it would be fiction. For this price, we know how the wine was made. And yet, the grapes must be really high quality, because this wine is superb.
The French have a word they use in English: "nervosity." Like all terms that don't translate well, I'm not sure exactly what they mean, but I believe it's in this wine. This wine has great freshness: in fact, it reminds me more of young cru Beaujolais, in a good way, because young Pinots are so rarely this fresh. The bright cherry fruit is initially almost Life Saver-like, and there's not a lot of complexity. In fact, if you opened this wine in a big tasting with a bunch of more expensive Pinots -- as I did -- you might miss it. I first thought, clean and fresh, good value for the price.
Then I had dinner, with my six favorite Pinots from the tasting. The other five all cost at least three times as much. One cost 11 times as much. And this was the bottle I emptied. I admired the profundity of the other wines, but I kept reaching to refill my glass of this wine. So I admit, I adjusted my rating upward from my initial impression, and James Laube would disapprove.
But it's a genuine Pinot: light-bodied (13.8% alcohol), fresh, real. It's not going to inspire you to soliloquies. But I'll bet it's the best $9 wine in every store that carries it.
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7 comments:
Andy here...just last night, with tacos, I opened the 2009 Casillero del Diablo Carmenere. This is another fantastic wine for the money with loads of tobbaco leaf and red fruit. And 7.99 at TJs no less. They are doing a very nice job down there
Lots of Pinot Noir planted down there these days Cono Sur has 5 levels from $9.99 to $80.00, the vineyards are just coming into their own, watch for PN from the Bio Bio in the south they can be great.
Concha Y Toro's Casillero del Diablo line has been a standby in our cellar for years. While I usually do not follow big brands with any kind of loyalty, the CdT are a different story. Quality and consistency for the price is remarkable, and the little devil always delivers. The Pinot was not distributed here in VT, but last year we found it across the border in NH, and as you say, the freshness was impressive. Great to have a pleasant pinot for the daily table, without feeling like you have to prepare a feast to justify the price on the bottle.
Who imports this wine? Then I can figure out who distributes it around here!
I think it's Banfi, but I'm not sure and I'm sending this from Virginia, without access to my notes. Check on that and if it's not right, let me know.
Not so good! Always looking for a price play that works...this one doesn't for me. But that's just my palete...please keep recommending, maybe next time.
This is my favorite wine, and only I drink :)
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