North American Pinot Noir

Pinot noir, the famously elegant, sexy, and capricious red grape of Burgundy, is finally producing impressive wines in North America. Credit talented winemakers, enthusiastic restaurateurs, and consumers in search of alternatives to cabernet and zinfandel. Considered perhaps the ultimate food wine, pinot noir has an allure based on its special combination of aromas, flavors, and mouthfeel; on its legendary capacity to reflect the terroir where it is grown; and on its reputation for being hard to grow and make. This is the definitive work on pinot noir in North America. A comprehensive reference for winemakers and aficionados as well as a sourcebook for casual enthusiasts, it includes extensive historical and viticultural background on pinot noir in the New World and profiles of six dozen prominent producers in California, Oregon, British Columbia, and New York. John Winthrop Haeger, known for his perceptive wine writing for more than fifteen years, gives contextual and comparative information about pinot noir in Burgundy and then tells the story of wine producers' early failures, frustrations, and breakthroughs in North America. He discusses plant genetics and clones, identifies the essential conditions for really good pinot, tells where the best wines are grown and made, and analyzes the factors that determine wine styles and signatures. In the second part of the book, he presents detailed producer profiles with accessibly written tasting notes on recent and mature vintages. A final section covers glassware, vintages, wine and food pairings, and other matters of interest to consumers. Maps prepared especially for this book cover all the major pinot-producing regions in North America.

Praise for North American Pinot Noir: "Every religion needs its scripture. Now pinot noir worshipers have theirs."—Carol Emert, San Francisco Chronicle "A great resource . . . . Exciting, thought-provoking reading."—Tara Q. Thomas, Wine & Spirits magazine

Featuring more than two hundred in-depth winery profiles, this definitive guide is the best single source of information on world-renowned pinot noirs from California and Oregon. Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of a grape variety considered by many to produce the ultimate food wine, John Winthrop Haeger offers this expanded, updated companion volume to his award-winning North American Pinot Noir. Here, with three times the number of winery profiles, he focuses exclusively on what he calls the Pacific Pinot Zone, stretching from the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon to Santa Barbara in California and extending up to thirty miles inland. An introductory essay provides an indispensable view of pinot noir in the United States—including the dramatic effect that the movie Sideways has had on its sales and production. Pacific Pinot Noir features: * Detailed descriptive tasting notes and selected vertical tastings * At-a-glance graphics conveying information on tasting rooms, prices, and production for each winery * Regional maps showing key viticultural areas * Contact information for each winery

Pinot noir, the famously elegant, sexy, and capricious red grape of Burgundy, is finally producing impressive wines in North America. Credit talented winemakers, enthusiastic restaurateurs, and consumers in search of alternatives to cabernet and zinfandel. Considered perhaps the ultimate food wine, pinot noir has an allure based on its special combination of aromas, flavors, and mouthfeel; on its legendary capacity to reflect the terroir where it is grown; and on its reputation for being hard to grow and make. This is the definitive work on pinot noir in North America. A comprehensive reference for winemakers and aficionados as well as a sourcebook for casual enthusiasts, it includes extensive historical and viticultural background on pinot noir in the New World and profiles of six dozen prominent producers in California, Oregon, British Columbia, and New York. John Winthrop Haeger, known for his perceptive wine writing for more than fifteen years, gives contextual and comparative information about pinot noir in Burgundy and then tells the story of wine producers' early failures, frustrations, and breakthroughs in North America. He discusses plant genetics and clones, identifies the essential conditions for really good pinot, tells where the best wines are grown and made, and analyzes the factors that determine wine styles and signatures. In the second part of the book, he presents detailed producer profiles with accessibly written tasting notes on recent and mature vintages. A final section covers glassware, vintages, wine and food pairings, and other matters of interest to consumers. Maps prepared especially for this book cover all the major pinot-producing regions in North America.

A portrait of the most fashionable grape in the wine world, pairing vivid narrative and stunning photography to showcase top Pinot producers in California and Oregon.

"From the red clay hills of Dundee, Oregon, come increasingly world-renowned pinot noir wines. After being startled and delighted by one winery's elixir, and the shaggy humor of the father and son who made it, Brian Doyle set out to spend a year in one Willamette Valley vineyard, chronicling the creative and chaotic labor as the winemakers chase after the perfect pinot noir." "A self-described "wine doofus," Doyle follows closely at the elbow of Jesse Lange, son of Lange Winery founder Don Lange, peppering the young winemaker with questions about the growing of grapes and making of wine. With dry wit and otherworldly patience, Jesse Lange offers his interlocutor a primer on pinot, describing how acres of tiny black grapes are turned into complex and superb wines." "Doyle serves as a tour guide through the world of wine, alert to the stories that swirl around its creation and consumption. In The Grail, he collects and shares dozens of these stories - about the natural history of the vineyard, the fussiness of the pinot vine, the boom in pinot noir around the world, the surprising buying habits of tasting room visitors, and the subtle craft of winemakers who know, as Jesse Lange says, grinning, "how to get out of the way of great grapes.""--BOOK JACKET.

From snowbound Alaska to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, from above the clouds at 40,000 feet to a rootless pit in a Sonoma Vineyard, Brice Jones shares his perspectives on the life of a man who won't listen to the word "no." The "rock star" of California wine takes us on a wild ride in his endless quest to produce a world-class Grand Cru wine thousands of miles from the Burgundian vineyards he so successfully emulates. This wide world over, there's no one like Brice. Brice Cutrer Jones is a third-generation military academy graduate. He is a decorated combat pilot with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, and 14 Air Medals to his credit. A pioneer in American fine wine, he created the top-rated Chardonnay for many years. With many of his employees and colleagues from Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards, he "boogied west" and set out to produce America's finest Pinot Noir at his newest enterprise, Emeritus Vineyards. On a sultry day in Vietnam in 1966, U.S. Air Force Brigadier General George Simler spoke these words that forever changed the life of his young aide-de-camp: "You know, Captain Jones, Burgundy is the name of a place." Brice Jones had never heard of such a thing. He resolved to do a little digging and find out if "Big George" was pulling his leg. Burgundy a place? What next? Strap yourself in for a supersonic ride from Alaska to Vietnam, Boston to Sonoma County, Chardonnay to Pinot Noir, as Brice rewrites the history of fine wines in America and provides more than a few thrills and laughs on his improbable journey to fame and fortune.

From snowbound Alaska to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, from above the clouds at 40,000 feet to a rootless pit in a Sonoma vineyard, Brice Jones shares his perspectives on the life of a man who won't listen to the word "no." The "rock star" of California wine takes us on a wild ride in his endless quest to produce a world-class Grand Cru wine thousands of miles from the Burgundian vineyards he so successfully emulates. This wide world over, there is no one like Brice. Brice Cutrer Jones is a third generation military academy graduate. He is a decorated combat pilot with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, and 14 Air Medals to his credit. A pioneer in American fine wine, he created the top-rated Chardonnay for many years. With many of his employees and colleagues from Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards, he "boogied west" and set out to produce America's finest Pinot Noir at his newest enterprise, Emeritus Vineyards.