Why aren’t we saying “Oregonian”?

And other thoughts on the Pinot noir data gathered by The Wine Nerd.

I’ve been such a big fan of what Rachel is doing with The Wine Nerd* for a while now, so when she asked if I’d be interested in doing a Pinot noir project with her, I was beyond excited! I’ll start by saying that I have a newfound respect for the data she pulls together and the amount of time and energy it takes. Her passion and dedication are admirable, and I think she’s starting interesting and important conversations in the wine community.

Moving on to the project! We wanted to show how Pinot noir differs by the main Pinot noir regions around the world, and what words people use to describe these various Pinot noirs. Which ones would be the most similar? Differ the most? Would we agree with the data from our personal tasting experiences?**

One of the biggest surprises for me that came out of the data was that Willamette Valley Pinots and Burgundy Pinots were the farthest apart based on descriptors used by tasters! Why did I find this so surprising? Multiple (and by that I mean a whole lot) wineries in the Willamette Valley have Burgundian winemakers or consultants, and there’s a constant reference to the wines being “Burgundian style.” It got me thinking a lot — is “Burgundian style” just a marketing buzzword that they believe (right or wrong, I don’t know) wine drinkers want to hear? Or are the terroirs so different between the Willamette Valley and Burgundy that the winemaking process and style can be the same all day long and the wines are still going to have quite different characteristics? I’m a wine enthusiast and not a wine professional, so I don’t have the answers for this, but I’d love to hear what others think about this topic.

From my own tasting experiences between Burgundian Pinot noir and Willamette Valley Pinot noir, I shouldn’t have been surprised by what the data shows. After looking through old tasting notes of mine, it’s clear I agree that Burgundian Pinot noir is different from Willamette Valley Pinot noir in terms of the words I use to describe each of them.

Thinking about the differences between Burgundy Pinot noir and Oregon Pinot noir also led me to wonder why Oregon wine isn’t focusing on touting that their style is “Oregonian” instead of “Burgundian.” While Burgundy makes some of the world’s best Pinot noir, so does Oregon! I don’t believe there’s still a need to sell people on Oregon Pinot noir as being something special. In particular, the 2012 vintage earned the Willamette Valley major respect. In my opinion, it sells the wine being made here in Oregon short to describe it using another region’s style. This attitude presupposes that all other Pinot regions [Oregon] should craft wine that aspires to Burgundy’s high standards. The Willamette Valley is producing world-class Pinot that stands on its own merits. I think it’s time they fully embrace the “Oregonian” aspect of their winemaking and what’s being produced. What do you think?

There are always exceptions, and for me, the one exception I can think of would be when the owners and/or winemakers are Burgundian but producing in Oregon. I can understand wanting to incorporate that into your work and branding wherever you may be making wine.

The other standout for me when reviewing the data was how it shows us that trying a varietal from different regions is essential to appreciate that varietal fully. For example, if you’ve only tried Pinot noir from Sonoma and didn’t care for it, there’s a chance you may thoroughly enjoy what’s coming out of Austria instead. I should probably take my own advice and try more Syrah and Merlot from outside what I’ve previously had as these are two varietals I typically don’t get all that excited about drinking.

What we didn’t explore with this data is weather conditions for the vintages used for the data points. It’d be interesting to do this project again in 5 years with newer vintages and see if we get the same results! Weather is such a huge factor in every vintage and varies tremendously by location and year-over-year. Do you think we’d get the same results or at least similar results, or do you predict it would be completely different?

Find me on Instagram @passthepinot.

*The Wine Nerd is Rachel’s Instagram name. Find her by searching @the.wine.nerd

**For the nitty-gritty data details, you’ll need to see Rachel over @the.wine.nerd because I’m just here for the commentary and the tasting!