The best Pinot Noir you have EVER tasted

I will start with mine and it actually is a tie between 2. One caveat, 1)is 91% Pinot Noir and 9% Syrah 2000 Cakebread Rubiyat and 2) is 2005 Domaine Serene Evenstad Pinot Noir. Any thoughts on this or comments? Anyone? Bueller?,Bueller?

[David M. Bueker]

Restricting to domestic (USA) Pinot Noir, or do you want the big Burgundian guns to come out?

Oh...and hi Stu.

[Jenise]

Welcome to the board, Stu. But oh gosh, you'd make me pick? Okay, I guess the 1978 DRC La Tache--from magnum, no less, about ten years ago. That would, technically speaking, be the best. But several years before that, when I didn't like pinot noir at all I thought, and got my first taste of the 1990 Leroy Auxey-Duress, which put me into a state of euphoria for weeks, well, it would be hard to top that in a first-love kind of way. Of American pinots? The 1992 Domaine Serene Evanstadt we opened about three-four years ago probably ranks at the top, and the 99 Evanstadt along with the 99 Siduri 'Christian David', both drunk at ten years old, aren't far behind.

David-
Best is best, and no boundaries of Country or region is set . So go for broke. Here is an example, you tasted this PN and it made you compare it to everyother one you tried after that. Go for it

Both at the same tasting
1. Leroy 1991 Musigny
2. Leroy 1955 Volnay

Hmmm. I don't have a lot of Burgundy experience...so...

Pinot Noir is not really my favorite grape-especially in its richer, cherry cola form. But, there have been a few that I've loved.

One receent Pinot that rocked my world: the 2004 Fort Ross Reserve, which was just stunning. It had richness but also stunning acidity, tangyness, earthyness. Layers and layers of flavor. Really beautiful wine....pricey but not obscene ($50)

A good deal of Burgundy and other Pinot Noir based wine experience. Many truly great reds from Burgundy and quite a few from the USA but if asking for all time favorites:


Domaine Leroy, Romanee St.-Vivant, 1999
Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg, 1985

Best
Rogov

[David M. Bueker]

There's a lot of contenders (e.g. 1995 Leroy Clos Vougeout, 1990 Rousseau Chambertin), but I really think the '71 Vogue Musigny might take the cake, not because it was the very best, but beause it was the first amazing Burgundy I ever tried. 1998 DRC Richebourg was also right up there, but it wasn't close to ready.

David, Hi...

Your point is well taken, for as often we have said, defining "the best" is often determined as much by the circumstances, the mood and the company as much as by the wine itself. There would be, for example, a huge difference between a list of "The Best Wines Tasted in 20xx", and "The Wines I Most Enjoyed in 20xx", the first being largely based on scores and the second on more personal (and perhaps more important) reactions.

Best
Rogov

The wine that started the whole Burgundy nuttiness for me: 1997 Mugnier Musigny (also probably the best 1997 red Burg I ever tasted)

Two of my few tastes of Grand Cru Burgundies stand out--a (1997?) Bonnes Mares that Alex Gambal produced with grapes from a friend, and a 1999 Raphet Clos de Bezes. By the bottle, a village Chambolle-Musigny from Digioia-Royer (2002) and a 1999 Arlaud Morey-St-Denis "les Ruchots" 1er cru.

For domestic Pinot Noir it's hard to pick one but it would probably be one from the Russian River Valley. One that stood out was a 2002 Gary Farrell Russian River Valley Pinot Noir with grapes from Rochioli and Allen vineyards plus two or three other vineyards. It had such a fantastic nose which I was told probably came from the Rochioli and Allen grapes.

Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 'Les Amoureuses' 1986 tasted in December 2007.

Cheers,
Sue

I much as I enjoy PN, I have little experience with truly excellent examples. I'll give a three way tie to the following: 1. For upfront drinking pleasure: Kim Crawford, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2007; 2. For quality and potential: Nicolas Potel, Cotes-des-Nuits-Villages, VV 2006; 3. For interest and pleasure of the experience: Quancard, Chambolle-Musigny 1952

Two of my few tastes of Grand Cru Burgundies stand out--a (1997?) Bonnes Mares that Alex Gambal produced with grapes from a friend, and a 1999 Raphet Clos de Bezes. By the bottle, a village Chambolle-Musigny from Digioia-Royer (2002) and a 1999 Arlaud Morey-St-Denis "les Ruchots" 1er cru.

For domestic Pinot Noir it's hard to pick one but it would probably be one from the Russian River Valley. One that stood out was a 2002 Gary Farrell Russian River Valley Pinot Noir with grapes from Rochioli and Allen vineyards plus two or three other vineyards. It had such a fantastic nose which I was told probably came from the Rochioli and Allen grapes.

17 years ago, Rochioli Pinot Noir was the first "expensive' wine I ever drank. Yum! Even now.

The wine that started the whole Burgundy nuttiness for me: 1997 Mugnier Musigny (also probably the best 1997 red Burg I ever tasted)

I'm not a big '97 fan either, but both the Roumier and Mugnier Musignys are great wines that vintage.

My greatest PN?
85 Mugneret Gibourg Clos Vougeot, 93 Lafarge Clos des Chenes, 99 Rousseau Clos St Jacques, 62 Rousseau Chambertin- pretty hard to choose. My favorite NEw World was probably a mid 90s Saintsbury Reserve, not expensive wines but quite lovely,

Hi Stu and welcome!

This is actually quite easy for me: the extraordinary bottle of DRC, La Tache 1978 I had the pleasure of meeting something like ten years ago. It was a "nonesuch" experience.
Cheers,
Anders

For some reason I can never think of particular wine epiphanies or 'best' wines in any category. Maybe I don't drink enough grand wine but more likely it is because I just don't think that way. I was never one who got into proclaiming restaurants 'The Best (version of x) in Town' either.. But that's a different story..

Like many others, remembering certain wines for the special context and their special role in the development of my palate is more likely to have meaning. But for some reason there is no Burgundy/Pinot Noir that comes to mind for that either, despite the fact that red Burgundy is one of my current core regions.

For Loire Cabernet Franc it was the 2002 Breton wines tasted in 2003 that first started seducing me. For the Northern Rhone it was 1999 Allemand tasted that same summer of 2003 that floored me (I can still remember the experience). For German riesling it was JJ Christoffel from 2001, again tasted early that summer of 2003. The year before I first tasted Foillard and that stuck with me too. Those were the days!

For me, the wines I judge "best" in my memory are all pretty subjective based on the time and the place and people with whom I shared the wine. Thus my memory of the best pinot noir was a bottle of 2005 Sea Smoke my wife and I shared on our 25th Anniversary celebration last February at the Ballard Inn restaurant in the Santa Ynez valley. Obviously the circumstances made all the difference. Next, was a 2000 Sandford & Benedict our family shared on Christmas Eve a couple of years ago. I also think very highly of a 2004 Gary Farrell pinot from the Rochioli-Allen Vineyard we enjoyed last year.

'88 Drouhin Griottes-Chambertin
'93 DRC Richebourg
'91 Maume Gevery-Chambertin 1er (an early peak at the Mazis)
'01 Williams-Selyem Hirsch
'07 Kosta-Browne Keefer (pre-release/these will be fantastic in a few years)
'00 H. Boillot Mazis-Chambertin (from a .375)
'02 Marcassin Blue Slide Ridge

I guess I'm hooked on PN.

'91 Maume Gevery-Chambertin 1er (an early peak at the Mazis)

I'm having trouble understanding this sentence. Do you mean the GC 1er gave you a hint of what the Mazis would be like in the future?

Sounds like a pretty good GC 1er! (I've never had his Mazis).

'91 Maume Gevery-Chambertin 1er (an early peak at the Mazis)

I'm having trouble understanding this sentence. Do you mean the GC 1er gave you a hint of what the Mazis would be like in the future?

Sounds like a pretty good GC 1er! (I've never had his Mazis).

This bottling is young vine Mazis--by most reports Maume had an excellent '91 vintage, although I haven't opened any of the Mazis-Chambertin yet. Mazis-Chambertin used to be one of the more affordable Grand Crus. Not so much anymore.

Welcome to the board, Stu. But oh gosh, you'd make me pick? Okay, I guess the 1978 DRC La Tache--from magnum, no less, about ten years ago. That would, technically speaking, be the best. But several years before that, when I didn't like pinot noir at all I thought, and got my first taste of the 1990 Leroy Auxey-Duress, which put me into a state of euphoria for weeks, well, it would be hard to top that in a first-love kind of way. Of American pinots? The 1992 Domaine Serene Evanstadt we opened about three-four years ago probably ranks at the top, and the 99 Evanstadt along with the 99 Siduri 'Christian David', both drunk at ten years old, aren't far behind.

http://www.oregonwinepress.com/index.ph ... 02_Lawsuit

Btw, nothing happened on the 30th - it was continued.

And here's another look at it, with comments from a couple of winemakers.

http://www.oregonwinepress.com/index.ph ... 6_Clusters

Certainly the best 'category' has been the Dr Barolet Burgundies (although some people also include those as being among the best 'Hermitage' they've ever tasted!).
Among those, probably the 34 Vosne-Romanee (opinions welcome as to which vineyard/producer it originated from).
Last tasted about 10 years ago, and still not yet quite ready!

This bottling is young vine Mazis...

Nice. 100%. Do you know if that is still the case? I don't know how young the vines were but it's almost 20 years later so they might be getting past the young stage.