Parents, Pinot and Pizza

I was off work on Friday and needed to go to the LCBO to pick up wine for next month's Wine Club. I hit the Ancaster location as it is one of the better ones in the area. One of our favourite wine consultants Jack Blair, now works at the Ancaster store; he used to work downtown at the Dundurn location. The Dundurn store, for its size, always had a great selection in its Vintages section and I believe Jack had a lot to do with that. With Jack now in working in a larger store in a more affluent neighbourhood, its Vintage section is slowly becoming one of the best in the area.

I knew the first wine I was getting for Wine Club was a Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc as it received a 92 rating from the Wine Spectator and was less than $20 a bottle. I chatted with Jack about Wine Club and what wines we had tried so far and then asked him if he could recommend a good Pinot Noir in our price point ($25 or less). Pinot Noir is a finicky wine. When I took my Wine Course last year, I remembered my instructor saying that is was almost impossible to find a good Pinot for under $35 and even at $35 a bottle there was no guarantee that it would be good. So I have been a tad nervous to try Pinot Noir for Wine Club.

Jack suggested that I try a Newen Pinot Noir from Argentina which was reasonably priced at $12.85 a bottle. I had my doubts but decided at $13 a bottle I was willing to take a risk and bought a case for Wine Club.

"$13 Pinot Noir "

LCBO Information - DEL FIN DEL MUNDO "NEWEN" PINOT NOIR 2006

VINTAGES 55202
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 12.85
13.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Argentina, Argentina
By: Bodega Del Fin Del Mundo
Release Date: Jan 19, 2008

Description - The 'winery of the end of the world' is a remarkable project based in the wild Patagonia region at the southern end of Argentina. The climate here is extremely dry, with just 180 mm annual rainfall, so irrigation is needed - the water used for this comes from the River Neuquén, itself fed by Andes melt water... (Jamie Goode, www.wineanorak.com, Sept. 2006) A great value, match this Patagonia Pinot with grilled portobello mushrooms or lasagna.

On the way home I had to stop at my parents’ house to drop off a router for my sister. She got a second computer for Christmas and wanted Internet on both. I told her she would need a router to do this and I had an extra one.

My father was home and we ended up talking and wasting the afternoon away. My mom got home from work and the three of us sat around talking and before we knew it was close to dinner time. My father decided to cook up a frozen pizza and do up a salad. He yelled in from the kitchen asking my mom if she wanted a beer with dinner, mom asked for wine instead.

I suddenly remembered that I had a whole trunk full of wine in the car and offered a bottle of Pinot Noir as my contribution to dinner. I hustled out to the car and grabbed a bottle of the Newen which was cool from being outside, almost about the perfect temperature to serve a Pinot Noir.

I opened the bottle and gave it a quick taste – a bit sharp but nice body and good flavor. I detected quite a bit of ‘heat’ on the nose and wondered what the hell the alcoholic content was on this wine. My eyes went wide as I read 14% on the label.

I was pleasantly surprise how good the wine went with the pizza and salad. I thought to myself - “For $13 bucks this is very drinkable!”

I had a bit more of the wine than I had intended to, as it was going down way too easy, so I stayed for a couple of hours after dinner before driving home.

Cheers!

Mark