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Deen
De Bortoli Pinot Noir Vat 10, 2006 Good Pinot Noir is inherently more expensive than
other varietals because it is usually grown in small vineyards and must be made
in small batches. Most Pinots in the price range of our monthly selection suffer
from either weak quality or a lack of varietal character. De Bortoli has the advantage of extensive vineyard ownership in four
regions of Australia including Pinot Noir holdings in the cool Yarra Valley of
Victoria. De Bortoli produces several top quality (and top price!) Pinot Noirs,
so they have the grapes and can make some intelligent compromises to produce an
inexpensive Pinot that far surpasses the competition. For example, instead of
machine harvesting as is usually done, 50% of the grapes for this wine were
hand-harvested. Tank aging is the norm, but 5% of this wine was aged in barrique.
That doesn’t sound like much, but it makes a difference. Destemming the grape
clusters is common, but De Bortoli uses 15% whole cluster (with the stems
intact) for added complexity. The result is a wine with varietal character on both the nose and the
palate. It is a pretty wine with some complexity and a reasonably lengthy
finish. Josh Raynolds wrote about it in Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine
Cellar: “Archetypical pinot aromas encompass a range of red berries,
cherry, musky underbrush, flowers, and baking spices. Juicy strawberry, cherry,
and smoked meat flavors are impressively pure and brisk, carrying though to a
bright, energetic finish. An elegant, light-bodied pinot, and a good value.”
Pinot Noir works well with white meats, but it is also very appropriate with
fish. Try this beauty with James Beard’s Fish
Fillet Provençal.
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