About Me
I'm a Melbourne boy, hailing from St Kilda with one ex, one current wife and four kids. Love the outdoors and making new discoveries. I cook a lot at home (cheers from wife) and do some preserving, mostly jams, pickles and fruit liqueurs. This is the diary of a cooking journey.

My Complete Profile

Recent Posts
Do The Math
Where's The Meatloaf?
Special Thinking Blogger Award
Thinking Blogger Award
The real reason is...
Be Quick!
Mushroom Season!
Melbourne's Best Bagel
Creamy Apple Tart
Tea or Coffee

Links
1001 Dinners 1001 Nights
A Few of My Favourite Things
Abstract Gourmet
Apellation Australia
Becks and Posh
BurgerMary ATX
Cook (almost) Anything at least once
Cooking Down Under
Cook sister!
Cooked And Bottled In Brunswick
David Lebovitz
Deep Dish Dreams
Chef Paz
Chubby Hubby
Eating Melbourne
Eating With Jack
essjay eats
Food Lover's Journey
Gosstronomy
Grab Your Fork
I Am Obsessed With Food
I Eat Therefore I Am
Iron Chef Shellie
Just Desserts
Kalyn's Kitchen
Kitchen Wench
Lobstersquad
Matt Bites
Melbourne Gastronome
My Kitchen in Half Cups
Nola Cuisine
Not Quite Nigella
Nourish Me
Seriously Good
Souvlaki For The Soul
Stone Soup
Sunnybrae
Syrup and Tang
Steve Don't Eat It!
That Jess Ho
The Elegant Sufficiency
The Perfect Pantry
The View From My Porch
Thyme for Cooking
Tomato
Tumeric & Saffron
tummy rumbles
What I Cooked Last Night
where's the beef
WhiteTrashBBQ
Vicious Ange

Food Blog Resources
Food Blog S'cool
I Eat I Drink I Work
Kiplog Food Links

Food for Thought
Autism Victoria
Autism Vox
forget me now
Lotus Martinis
MOM - Not Otherwise Specified
St Kilda Today

Friday, May 04, 2007
Cristom, Pinot Noir



Well it's not every day you turn fifty, so a special bottle of wine was in order. We were having Polish style roast duck - the bird was well seasoned with salt, pepper and marjoram, then stuffed with apples also seasoned with marjoram. Of course the classic wine partner for the gaminess of duck is pinot noir and because I only occasionally buy top end wines, I asked for the advice of Prince Wine Store.

Being a vague sort of Pinotphile and knowing their wine list I was half expecting a Premier cru Burgundy or perhaps something new world from New Zealand. As much as I like Australian pinot noir and although they are very drinkable, our wines seem somewhat simple compared to those from these two countries...the X factor just isn't there for us, except for two, maybe three producers. When you're talking about pinot noir, it is the X factor you're constantly searching for, there is something special about this grape variety that separates it from all others and makes it unique in the wine world.

It is the combination of terroir, vineyard management, winemaking skill and time in the bottle, that when it all comes together, makes you sit up and go wow like no other wine can. In a way it's unexplainable, but when you drink a great bottle of pinot noir, you just know that this is God's second greatest gift to mankind.

So when Michael McNamara suggested a Cristom pinot noir, a highly regarded producer from Oregon, USA, it was a bit from left field. I have never had an American pinot noir before, but then again, I had never turned fifty before either, so what the heck, the reason you ask for advice is so you can act upon it and I duly purchased a bottle of the Sommers Reserve from Willamette Valley.

At 13.5% alcohol, it is well within the range I look for in a wine, being no fan of much above 14%. The colour was a light brick red in the glass and on the nose were some spice and briar fruits. The first taste was amazing, the briar fruits were there along with a spicy cherry essence. The flavour kept building in the mouth and was well defined by fine textured tannins. There was immense power in the wine along with tremendous length, the taste lingered long after I swallowed, this was serious stuff indeed, not one for quaffing.

There are some pinots that gain their character from a forest floor kind of gaminess that you either love or hate and even though wild yeasts were employed in the fermentation, the Cristom has avoided all that and made a wine of great purity and finesse. Now having no experience of American pinot noir, I can't say what the aging potential would be, but guessing from what I had, ten years plus would be no surprise. In fact the only criticism I had and it's hardly that, is the wine I drank was too young.

Will I buy American again? You bet.

Cristom, Willamette Valley, Sommers Reserve pinot noir, 2004, Au$90.
Available Prince Wine Store, 177 Bank Street, South Melbourne

Labels: ,

 
  posted at 8:08 am
  5 comments



5 Comments:
At 1:24 pm, Blogger paul kennedy said...

I remember my first taste of a really good - I mean really good, not raspberry lemonade with a kick - pinot noir. It was a revelation. They're hard to come by without forking out. Happy birthday again.

 
At 6:37 pm, Blogger MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

So glad to hear you had a great bottle for the 50.
I'm out the door this minute to ... Portland ... wonder if I might find this one!
Have a Happy Day after!!

 
At 4:04 pm, Blogger Lucy said...

Happy, happy Birthday.

Great wine. Who'd have thought the
Prince would suggest an American one?

Glad they did!

 
At 11:45 am, Blogger neil said...

Hi kitchen hand, I well remember mine too, though happily I didn't fork out too much, nor did I have to age it. It was a little French number that I bought at auction.

Hi tanna, hope Portland is great! Well if I can get it in Australia...

Hi lucy, I was glad too, but it was probably the furtherest thing from my mind. It goes to show it pays to be open to new things.

 
At 9:01 am, Blogger ilingc said...

Happy belated birthday. I can just see my friends going.. what american wines?? maybe i'll get one, one of these days.. just to see how they react ;)

 

Post a Comment

<< Home



Search


Recipe Categories
Soups
Salads
Vegetables
Poultry
Pork
Beef
Cakes & Desserts
Miscellaneous

Archives
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
May 2009
June 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
July 2012

Miscellaneous
AUSTRALIAN FOOD BLOGGERS
Prev ~ List ~ Random ~ Join ~ Next
Site Ring from Bravenet


Site Feed

counter easy hit

Credits
Blog Design by:


Image created by:
Ximena Maier

Powered by:


Photos, Original Recipes, and Text - (C) Copyright: 2005-2010
At My Table by Neil Murray, all rights reserved.
You may re-post a recipe, please give credit and post a link to this site.

Contact Me
Neil Murray

Follow messytable on Twitter