If there ever was a complicated and intriguing wine, it’s Pinot Noir! It’s been said that Pinots have the broadest range of noses and palate qualities of any wine. It’s also been said that if you happen to fancy Pinot Noir, that you’ve come to have one of the most expensive habits that wine can bring to an addict of its kind. It’s an elusive habit; always trying to chase that first high of finding the Pinot that fulfills your every need; deep and rich, layered and complex, light and fruity, gritty and earthy; whatever it is that fits your fix.
So, here we are, finding ourselves with an open bottle of ’07 Scheid Vineyards Pinot Noir, made from grapes grown in their Estate Vineyards in Monterey, California. This area of northern Monterey County is known for their cool breezes and foggy mornings. Pinot grapes like this climate and tend to thrive in a climate that isn’t harsh or dramatic. It creates the perfect environment for a wine that showcases the inherent qualities of the grape; layers of delicate flavors and subtle fruit. We’ve heard winemakers say things like “Pinot Noir is the most fickle grape” or “Pinot Noir can be the most difficult wine to make”. What this means is that finding “your” Pinot is a never ending and challenging task. Somebody has to do it, why not you and me?
This Scheid Pinot Noir characterizes the typical qualities that one can find in a Pinot; light, smoky, fruity, with a delightfully brown edge of color and an ever-changing palate. We sort of agreed on the nose and the palate, yet we both found different qualities. This is the pleasant dilemma that a Pinot-phile will encounter on any given day.
The end all be all is that this wine was good! We both liked it, for similar and yet different reasons. We’d like to thank our good friend, Justin for sharing this bottle of goodness with us! Cheers!!!
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wow, that ocean/sea sounds so wonderful and relaxing, and drinking some Pinot Noir with you would be even better. Pinot Noir is our favorite of the reds.
Yes, the ocean is awesome, Bev. We both love being near it…so powerful yet calming. Then, when you add a Pinot to just about anything, it makes it better! Cheers, Bev!!!
My Go To Pinot is from Castle Rock (Monterey) – sometimes can find it for less than $8 a bottle. I love Pinot for many reasons and one is its versatility with foods – great for a dinner party. I will have to check out Scheid – always up to trying Pinots. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Renee, we’ll have to check out that Castle Rock! I (Annie) have a love/hate relationship with Pinots, while Matt is a total Pinot-phile! I like a layered, fruity Pinot with a little bit of grittiness, and there are a lot of Pinots out there that I’m just not a huge fan of. Guess I’ll just have to keep trying, huh?!?
I’m back but not the man I was. They took the top of my tibia, and the bottpm of my femur and sent me home with 2 asprins. I am at the point where I would love to sell a perfectly good lower leg. I really didn’t have a clue about how painful this is. Everyone kept telling me that I would look back on this as something I should have done sooner. What the don’t say is that the 1st 2 weeks are something out out of the Spanish Inquisition. I have confessed to everything I can think of, even the Lindbergh kidnapping and the pain just goes on. My physical theropist says that most women say this operation is worse than child birth which is funny because I think I gave birth twice last night.
Well I’ll see you later. I am looking every where for another asprin.
Welcome back, Gary!!! We’ve missed you! Sorry to hear you’re in so much pain, I figured they’d give you some good meds that would make you giggly. Bummer, aspirin doesn’t even cure a minor hangover, sheesh! Now, about this birth thing…does Marcy know? 😉
Great to see you both hanging out by the beach enjoying life, drinking some great “Jolly-Roger” Pinot Noir. LOL!! I love Pinot Noir, “The best tasting wine is one you like.” Cheers!
Great quote, Duncan! Goes right along with “Drink what you like and like what you drink” or something like that! Thanks for stopping by…cheers!!!
Annie keep trying:) I am sorta like you in having a love/hate relationship with Pinots. I had a bad one this weekend and it just turns you off for a while. When I find one I like I tend to go to that versus trying something new, which I did this past weekend and it was an utter disaster. Cheers!
Don’t worry, Renee! I’m no quitter! hehehe. Will definitely hang in there, I have my Pinot moods but am mostly in a white wine mood these days. Must be the weather! Cheers!!!
My surgeon left his rubics cube in my knee.
Hmm…that sounds like it might smart a bit, Gary! But at least you travel with built-in entertainment!