Brand Name: Bogle
Vineyard: Bogle Vineyards
Vintage: 2009
ABV%: 14%
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Appellation: California
Price: $11 + tax
Tuesday 7:00 pm, after a long day in the glamorous world of
numbers, blueprints, and computer monitors, I met my friend at home for some
Mates ,
a type of hot tea.
Mate
While listening to a blend of music by Babasonicos, Los Pericos, et all, and discussing how
to fix the world, it was decided that as opposed to enjoying rounds of Mate we would
instead open a bottle of wine that was lingering around the room. The bottle, a 2009 Bogle Vineyards Pinot Noir
from California,
had been brought by someone during a previous dinner and was waiting for
someone to enjoy its structure and flavors.
Since the wine did not reflect any specific region, it implied that the
grapes came from one or multiple regions within the state shown on the label, this is typically an
indication that the aromas and
flavors of the wine will be more about fruit than terroir . By U.S. wine law the region used on the labels denotes the following:
- Wines displaying a state name on the label requires 100% of the grapes to come from that state.
- Wines displaying the county name on the label requires 75% of the grapes to come from the named county.
- Wines displaying an AVA (American Viticultural Area) name on the label requires 85% of the grapes come from the named appellation.
The wine displayed a deep garnet color, usual of a younger
Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir wines, typically,
are lighter in color and more translucent than other red varietals, a key
factor in being able to identify a Pinot Noir.
The “lack” of color in Pinot Noir is due it's due to the thin skin which has lower
levels of anthocyanin, blue, violet, or red pigment found in plants.
source: http://winefolly.com/tutorial/red-wine-color/
On the nose the wine was fruit driven, displaying perfumed violet
aromas and ripe notes of strawberry and raspberry indicative of a wine typical
of a warm wine producing region and new world style. A cool region or old world style, i.e. Burgundy, Pinot
Noir would have displayed more earthiness thus exhibiting bouquets of
undergrowth: an earthy and leathery
quality.
On the palate the wine displayed the characteristics of a general “California” labeled
region wine: ripe fruit notes of strawberry and raspberry accompanied by some
dried cranberry. The wine had lingering
warmth, moderate acidity, and displayed and enjoyable velvety texture along
with smooth tannins.
After the first glass and a long talk our appetite developed
and I decided we should prepare a meal to accompany the discussion and the
wine. Having moved in to a new place
recently the options for ingredients were limited: pizza dough, bell
peppers, mozzarella cheese, eggs, hummus, flour, olive oil, salt, and pepper
were the selected ingredients to make a pizza and a faina. The thin crust pizza
was made in the oven laden with a thin layer of olive oil, chunks of mozzarella
cheese, red and yellow bell peppers strips, and topped off with round slices of
hard boiled eggs. The faina,
a type of pizza dough typically made using garbanzo flour, was improvised
using hummus and adding eggs and some flour which would later be baked next to
the pizza.
20 minutes later, voilà, a
tasty meal was ready to accompany the Bogle Pinot Noir. Pizza is not a meal typically paired with a
Pinot Noir, perhaps because most pizzas have tomato sauce requiring a wine with
good acidity (our pizza "sauce" was just olive oil); however, the medium plus body of the Pinot Noir and fruit flavors
paired nicely with the mozzarella creaminess, the peppery consistency of the
pizza, and the earthiness of the faina.
Faina
Meal Time w/ good friends: "gallego" & "panchitos"
