A Beginner’s Guide to Oregon Pinot Noir
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
High-end Oregon pinot noir tasting involves analyzing the acid, tannins, body, weight, alcohol content, color, and about a hundred other qualities of the wine, many of which seem impossible to understand, even after they’ve been explained to you.
The ante for what to expect when drinking pinot is raised when you hear how pinot has been famously described as, “the most romantic of wines,” and “sex in a glass.” Descriptions like these can leave you scratching your head if you are new to wine and secretly thinking, “tastes like wine to me…”
And while the movie Sideways (which every moderately intellectual adult of a certain generation seems instantly to associate with the wine industry) is an amazing piece of cinema for wine connoisseurs and the wine ignorant alike, it doesn’t make the wine drinking experience any more approachable.
The main character, Miles, a brilliant, troubled writer who spends all of his time obsessing over his ex-wife, wine, and writing, rails against merlot throughout the movie. At one point he tells his friend he will leave the double date they are on if the women they are dining with order merlot, implying this act would be a sign of the women’s mental inferiority.
However, since Miles never really explains why merlot is so evil, you’re left wondering, “what’s wrong with merlot?” or more importantly, “what’s wrong with me if I like merlot?”
Drinking wine, it would seem, is a high-stakes game, and to lose that game would be to become a merlot-guzzling, sweet-wine-slurping ignoramus. It’s as if you don’t just have a bad experience when you pick the wrong bottle of wine, you become a less intelligent person.
If you have ever felt these anxieties about the craft wine industry, you’re not alone. It can be (but certainly isn’t always) a heady and pretentious industry. So how does one make drinking and buying Oregon pinot fun again?
1. Don’t over think it.
Wine serves a few purposes. It helps you eat and digest food and helps you feel all warm-and-fuzzy at the end of a hard day. Many people think tasting wine is about analyzing and understanding the smell of a wine. But the olfactory experience doesn’t necessarily define a wine. The price doesn’t define the wine. Your experience defines the wine. A bad wine can taste amazing if you are with good friends or family or are eating a nice meal. A great wine can taste lackluster in the wrong context.
2. Keep drinking wine and buying wine as distinct activities.
It can be really easy to get talked into buying an expensive bottle of wine while you are out tasting. After a few small taster glasses you’ll be feeling looser and the tasting room associate will suddenly become much more interesting! This is the wrong time to buy wine if you don’t want a serious buyer’s remorse hangover the next day. There’s nothing worse than sitting down to dinner with a $70 bottle of wine you feel frustrated with yourself for buying and not being able to have a $70 experience. Taste wines on one day and come back the next day to purchase the ones that stood out. You can also order online with many wineries.
3. When you don’t know what to drink with dinner, think Oregon pinot.
Oregon pinot is almost exclusively made into a very light, acidic wine. This type of wine is ideal for drinking with food because its acid makes your mouth water as you drink it, which is said to stimulate the appetite. It also doesn’t tend to overpower food (pinot being one of the few red wines that is paired with both fish and red meat.)
Remember: wine should be fun! With these tips, you can keep the amazing privilege of drinking our local pinot a rewarding and, most importantly, fun experience.
Related Slideshow: Great Oregon Wineries Outside the Willamette Valley
Related Articles
- Portland Second Most Expensive City to Buy Beer and Wine
- PDX Wine Crawl: Top Three Wines by the Glass in Southwest Portland
- Sales at Oregon Wineries Exploded in 2014
- Taste Dundee Block Party Kicks Off Oregon Wine Month
- Why Local Bottle Shops Make Wine-Buying Sense
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It