Pizza, Friends, & Pinot Noir (Bogle Vineyards, 2009 Pinot Noir)

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"