In that sense, lovers of Musigny and Chambertin need hardly hold their breath: pinot noirs from anywhere west of the SaГґne have yet to show half the longevity of gr and or premier crus of olde.ДЇor seconders, it is still no coincidence that the richest, most aromatic and expressive American pinot noirs are tipping the scales at 14% to 15% alcohol (and people complain about zinfandels being too вЂњbigвЂќ). Good West Coast pinots donвЂ™t seem to get better вЂ“ they just getвЂ¦ old вЂ“ tired, worn, decrepit.

So far it seems that the best ones taste great anywhere from two to six years of age and after that, all bets are off. For one, I have yet to find a California or Oregon pinot noir that I can honestly say has вЂњimprovedвЂќ with age. This is as plain as many a new American pinotвЂ™s nose: as pure and fragrant as can be.Д«ut wait, hold your horses, because there is still a lot to naysaying going on. Yes, soil is important, but obviously climate, and simply coming to terms with the topographical cards you are handed with reasonable intelligence and empirical thought processing, have proven far more important. Burgundian) is mandatory for great pinot noir.

Perfectly intelligent people were repeatedly heard to say what once seemed obvious: that you just canвЂ™t grow grapes in frigid airs like that (of course you couldnвЂ™tвЂ¦ not with the mile x mile spacing, Cousin Itt canopies and grape chewing crushers still in prevalent use thirty years ago).ДЄnd dare I say, much of the pinot-will-never-be-great-outside-Burgundy thinking was based upon the premise that correct soil (i.e. Then again, even towards the end of TchelistcheffвЂ™s career, growing pinot noir (or any types of grape) between Occidental and the Sonoma Coast, below Sebastopol in the teeth of the Petaluma Gap, or anywhere near McMinnville or Lompoc was considered a physical impossibility. Have our pinot noir specialists made a pact with the devil? Or has it simply turned out that West Coast terroirs are not such a hell hole for pinot noir after all? That it is not the scrawny, brooding child the late, great AndrГ© Tchelistcheff once called it back in the sixties? Tchelistcheff also famously said that вЂњall the challenge is getting the surly child to smile,вЂќ and aside from occasional accidents of nature, he couldnвЂ™t seeing it happening on the West Coast any time soon. What does this have to do with pinot noir and the price of cheese in China? Even back in 2004 I was getting that itchy-scratchy feeling at the back of my throat, thinking: how the hell did Americans suddenly get so genius with this grape? Good enough so that even the most Frenchified oenophiles would have to admit that theyвЂ™re coming out as more than reasonable facsimiles of even the best Burgundies? Something, just twenty years ago, most of us in the business thought we would never see in our lifetime.

2010 clone 5 santa barbara pinot noir