With the exception of sparkling wine producers, wineries that focus on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay rarely play the blending game. But with Fort Ross Vineyard, there’s a not-so-secret third varietal that winemaker Jeff Pisoni gets to play with: Pinotage. While this ‘Symposium’ wine is labeled a Pinot Noir, there’s a little something extra blended in, giving the traditionally light, silky varietal, a hearty backbone and intense texture.
Spoiler Alert: The secret ingredient is Pinotage…
Pinotage was developed in South Africa in 1925 by Abraham Izak Perold who was attempting to combine the best of two varieties: Pinot Noir and what was then referred to as Hermitage (today’s Cinsault). Since that time the clonal creation has become somewhat of South Africa’s “heritage grape,” if you will. It’s with that sentiment that South African natives and owners of Fort Ross Vineyard, Linda and Lester Schwartz sourced Pinotage bud wood from the original founding blocks of their native homeland shortly after establishing their Sonoma Coast vineyard estate. They are, in fact, the first private growers to import such cuttings and, eventually, sell commercially. Their estate Pinotage consists of two Fort Ross proprietary clones, MM1 and MM3, developed at UC Davis from that originally imported budwood.
I love the name of this wine. The blocks where the Pinot Noir grapes are harvested for this wine are called Stagecoach Road because the vineyard is located along, you guessed it, Stagecoach Road. But the amusing part of this anecdote is that the road is so-named because it is the very same Black Bart used when he robbed the Wells Fargo Stagecoach in 1877. The interesting thing about this vineyard is that it sits in a bit of a pocket on the estate, so the Pacific Coast fog tends to sink right in, lengthening the ripening period and creating some deep, brooding flavors in the grapes and, thus, the wines. With that in mind, I think they should change the name to Black Bart’s Pinot Noir. Just a gentle suggestion…
I fell in love with Montepulciano while traveling in Italy. Believe it or not, my first sip was during a flight of Italian wines on the cruise ship that was carting me around the Mediterranean. It was the last in the line up, but the one I remember most. But, like the Croatian wine I talked about, since that trip I really haven’t had much of the varietal. And, again, it was my good friends John and Irene Ingersoll who write and sell at topochines.com who were able to take me back to that magical place via the gift of wine.
I haven’t had Croatian wine since I actually visited Croatia. And that was some time ago — long enough ago that I can’t recall what kinds of wines the country produces let alone what individual bottles tasted like. (This was pre-wine note-taking.) So I was thrilled when fellow bloggers/wine-sellers/good friends John and Irene Ingersoll of topochinesvino.com offered to send me one of their favs. This wine, paired with a mouth-watering Croatian-inspired meal, was the perfect way to take me back to the Mediterranean. 