Pasadena PinotFest Returns Feb 9

The Pasadena PinotFest Grand Tasting returns on Saturday, February 9 to the Altadena Country Club (preceded by a kickoff tasting and kickoff dinner at Noir the weeks before). The event runs from 1-4:30PM with over 200 pinot noir wines, food, and live jazz. Tickets are $89 for general admission and $119 for VIP tasting (starts at 11AM), with portions of the proceeds benefiting Hathaway Sycamores Child & Family Services.

Last year's tasting featured a lot of wineries from nearby Santa Barbara County like Hitching Post, Brewer-Clifton, La Fenetre Winery and many more.

The Altadena Country Club is a beautiful space for the wine tasting, with wonderful views, although the tasting room can get pretty crowded as the event goes on.

Joshua Klapper from La Fenetre Winery

I found a couple of new wines (new to me) that I enjoyed, including Sojourn from Sonoma Coast, who provided a great vertical tasting. There will be quite a few vertical tastings at the grand tasting, which is really the best way to taste what a winery has to offer.

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Wine rapping and Pinot Noir at The Taste LA

There were tons of interviews and wine seminars throughout The Taste LA events, too many to attend all of them. One got my attention when I met Justin Warner, who was giving a pinot noir seminar with Ira Noroff (Director of Education at Southern Wine & Spirits). He said he was an oeno-rapper, i.e. he raps about wine? Rap about wine? Well, that was sure interesting.

The daytime seminar started with Justin rapping about the joys of California wines:

Then the seminar proceeded with Ira telling the attendees these facts about Pinot Noir:

• Pinot is lighter in color because of its thin skin. That also means that it takes longer to extract the color, amplifying the difficulty and also the reason why Pinot is more expensive.
• The Primary aroma in Pinot is cherry and strawberry.
• Pinot Noir and Chardonnay likes cool climate, while Cabernet and Sauvignon like hot climate.

Ira also told us that when talking about wine, the "Primary characteristics" are always talking about fruit, while "Secondary characteristics" typically relate to the earth.

We tasted three widely different pinots, showcasing the diversity of this varietal. The first is Meiomi, by winemaker Joseph Wagner. This is a blend of region 1 central coast grapes. It's reminiscent of cola and dried leaves.

Next is a pinot from J Vineyard in the Russian River valley. This vineyard started as a sparkling wine company. This wine has more depth than the previous, reminiscent of rose petals. The wine was made in open top fermenters (which is what they do in Burgundy). They cold soak up to 10 days and then age it in 100% burgundy oak barrels (30% new oak barrels).

The last wine is 2007 Freestone pinot, by Joseph phelps. This is a new winery of his up in the Sonoma coast. The grapes used is 100% estate grown, and aged in 65% new oak barrels. Hints of orange peel. The wine is more tannic than the previous and tasted much more like a Cabernet. According to Ira, this wine will be fabulous in 5-10 years

Justin then finished off the tasting with an ode to Chateauneuf du Pape:


PS. Justin also owns Do or Dine restaurant in Brooklyn.

One last tip from Ira: Do not decant old wines! Decanting is for new wines that needs the air.

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