Reunión 131  Marzo 29, 2012  – Da Domenico Ristorante Italiano

Post Contents:

1.  Wines

2. Menu

3. Birthday of the Month

4. Participants of the Tasting – up to March 23

5. Wines Varietal Description 

1. The Wines

 The meeting of March will have the varietal Pinot Noir. The presenters will be Jairo Sanchez and Jaime Estupinan.  

Jairo Sanchez

Jaime Estupiñan

Vinos:    Degustación Ciega 

•  Savignon Blanc 2010

•  Pinot Noir California 2010

•  Pinot Noir Francia 2010

•  Pinot Noir Nueva Zelanda 2010

2.     Menu                                           

•      Aperitivo: Vino Blanco
•      Antipasto: Cozze Ligurian Style, vino No. 1
•      Pasta:         Papardelle Bolognese, vino No. 2
•      Entrada:    Peto di Pollo Toscana o
•                          Piccata di Vitello o
•                          Grilled Salmon, vino No. 3
•       Postre:       Pendiente               

3.      Aniversiariante do Mes de Março

 Raúl Sanguinetti     dia 30

4.    Participantes Confirmados   hasta 26 del Marzo

Alfonso Sanchez,  Cecilio-Augusto Berndsen,   Jairo Sanchez,   Jaime Estupinan,   Leonor Barreto,  Miguel Segovia,   Alfonso Caycedo,  Italo MIrkow,  Alvaro Lopez,   Emilio Labrada,   Ricardo Zavaleta, Marcello Averbug,   Hugo Benito,  Ruth Connolly,   Humberto Arbulu (Invitado de Jairo Sanchez),  Raul Sanguinetti,  Mario Aguilar,  Luis Carlos Danin Lobo -Lula,  Clarita Estrada (Condicional),  Juan Luis Colaiacovo.

5.      General Information about Pinot Noir  and the  Sancerre  Wines

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinot_noir as researched and selected by Jairo Sánchez and Jaime Estupiñan

Pinot noir (French: [pino nwaʁ]) is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French words for “pine” and “black” alluding to the grape variety’s tightly clustered dark purple pine cone–shaped bunches of fruit.

Pinot Noir is the Noble red grape of Burgundy, capable of ripening in a cooler climate, which Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot will not reliably do. It is unpredictable and difficult both to grow and to vinify, but results in some of the finest reds in the world. It is believed to have been selected from wild vines two thousand years ago. It is also used in the production of champagne. In fact, more Pinot Noir goes into Champagne than is used in all of the Cote d’Or.

Pinot noir’s home is France’s Burgundy region, particularly on the Côte-d’Or. It is also planted in Austria, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Chile, north parts of Croatia, the Republic of Georgia, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Kosova, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Greece, Romania, New Zealand, South Africa, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, United States, Uruguay, Ukraine and Slovakia. The United States has increasingly become a major Pinot noir producer, with some of the best regarded coming from the Willamette Valley in Oregon and California‘s Sonoma County with its Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations. Lesser known appellations can be found in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley as well as the Central Coast’s Santa Lucia Highlands appellation and the Sta. Rita Hills American Viticultural Area in Santa Barbara County. In New Zealand, it is principally grown in Martinborough, Marlborough, Waipara and Central Otago.

The tremendously broad range of bouquets, flavors, textures and impressions that Pinot noir can produce sometimes confuses tasters.^[2] In the broadest terms, the wine tends to be of light to medium body with an aroma reminiscent of black and / or red cherry, raspberry and to a lesser extent currant and many other fine small red and black berry fruits. Traditional red Burgundy is famous for its savoury fleshiness and ‘farmyard’ aromas (these latter not unassociated with mercaptans and other reductive characters), but changing fashions, modern winemaking techniques, and new easier-to-grow clones have favoured a lighter, more fruit-prominent, cleaner style. The wine’s colour when young is often compared to that of garnet, frequently being much lighter than that of other red wines. This is entirely natural and not a winemaking fault as Pinot noir has a lower skin anthocyanin (colouring matter) content than most other classical red / black varieties. However, an emerging, increasingly evident, style from California and New Zealand highlights a more powerful, fruit forward and darker wine that can tend toward Syrah (or even new world Malbec) in depth, extract, and alcoholic content.

The identifying characteristic of Pinot Noir wine is its strawberry and cherry aromas – fresh red cherries in lighter wines and deeper-colored black cherries in weightier versions. These notes are often complimented by hints of undergrowth, known as sous-bois in French. Well-built Pinot Noirs, particularly those from warmer harvests, also exhibit notes of leather and violets, sometimes approaching the flavor spectrum of Syrah.

     General information about  Sancerre Wine       

The Sancerre wine appellation lies in the Loire Valley in France just two hours south of Paris on the ‘Left Bank’ of the Loire. The appellation is to the east of Bourges and overlooks the Loire River as it finishes its northward exploration and suddenly turns west to head towards the Atlantic near the city of Nantes.

The appellation is centered on the picturesque hill-top village of the same name that has been an important regional centre since Roman times. It is rightly famous for the thrilling Sauvignon Blanc wines that are produced here. It is here that the grape reaches its ultimate expression.

The Sancerre appellation is unusual in France in that only two grape varieties are permitted for three wine types. Most appellations have many more permitted types. And a note to new world producers of Sauvignon Blanc wines, irrigation is not permitted in the Sancerre appellation. One of the secrets of the success of the Sauvignon Blanc grape here is the soil which is derived from the Kimmeridgian limestone that it shares with northern Burgundy (Chablis) and southern Champagne. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts and does not see any new wood although some of it is fermented in old barrels. The result is a piercing, wonderful wine with great complexity.

Sancerrene blanc Wines

Wine expert Tom Stevenson describes the classic profile of Sancerre blanc as bone dry, highly aromatic with intense flavors of peaches and gooseberries.

The styles of Sancerre will vary somewhat depending on what part of the wine region in which the grapes are produced. Around the village of Bué in the western reaches of the AOC, the soils tend to have more clay and produce more full bodied and rounded wines. Within Sancerre the three villages of Bué, Chavignol and Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre   have become so widely associated with distinctive and high quality wines that they are often referred to as “crus” even though Sancerre is not officially classified like parts of Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Comparisons to other Sauvignon blancs

Sancerre is often compared to neighboring Pouilly-Fumé which also specializes in 100% Sauvignon blanc wines, and while there are some differences, only very experienced tasters can distinguish the differences in a blind tasting. Broadly speaking, Sancerre tends to have a fuller body with more pronounced aromas, while Pouilly-Fumé wines are more perfumed. However, both wines have naturally high acidity and the potential to exhibit the minerally, flinty notes, as well as citrus and spicy notes.

Similarly Sancerre is compared to Sauvignon blancs produced around the globe. According to Sancerre tends to be less herbaceous and grassy than Sauvignon blancs from New Zealand and the Alto-Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Compared to Sauvignon blanc grown in Bordeaux, which are often blended with Semillon, Sancerre can be both more concentrated with more racy acidity. When contrasted with New World examples from California, Washington, Chile and South Africa, Sancerre tends to exhibit more assertive mineral flavors.