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Parmigiano reggiano is royalty Values on the Vine
By Betty Shimabukuro
Star-Bulletin
SEE that luscious glass of Pinot Noir? Know why it tastes so good? It's the bodies of ancient sea creatures that died a bazillion years ago.Well, OK, it also helps that the glass was touched by a winemaker who's a gifted artisan and a grape-grower with guts and brains. But bottom line, this Pinot was born of a grape born of the rugged and forbidding Sonoma Coast, where compressed sandstone is pocketed with metamorphic igneous rock full of sea fossils, all of it shaken and stirred by centuries of proximity to the notorious San Andreas fault.
"That minerality creates the structure that makes this great wine," says David Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards.
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In other words, it's the dirt, man.
California is a happening place for Pinot Noir, an elegant red that is an up-and-comer in the wine world. And the Sonoma Coast -- an ancient sea bed, now an isolated, craggy piece of land 1,000 feet up -- is the happening place for the Pinot grape.
And so Hawaii Public Radio -- specifically its wine guru Richard Field -- have selected Pinot Noir as the focus of this weekend's Wine Classic Auction and Tasting, subtitled "Pinot in Paradise."
Brought together for the event are Hirsch, the pioneer farmer who is producing some of the most sought after Pinot grapes in California, and winemaker Chris Whitcraft, who has turned his share of those grapes into some very special, highly acclaimed, wines.
"If we did a Pinot tasting four or five years ago, it would be embarrassing," Field says. "People would be walking around with sour faces."
Today, Pinot production is way up, with more Pinot acreage in California than anywhere in the world, he says, and quality has taken a giant leap forward. "The focus winemakers are giving to Pinot is the most dramatic change of any grape varietal."
It's a difficult grape to grow and a difficult wine to make, so the people who do it right become thought of as geniuses, or at least great artists.
To illustrate the point: Hirsch has 1,000 acres of land "out here at the end of the Earth." Only 50 acres are planted, mainly because the rest of it is unplantable. He gets about 2 tons of fruit per acre, which is half the average for Pinot, already a low-yield grape.
But what he gets is exceptional. Hirsch says he benefits from his proximity to the sea, which gives him plenty of daytime sunshine and cool nighttime air. That combination of high light, low total heat, plus all the minerals in the soil, pumps up the acids in the grape -- an end result that is highly attractive to winemakers.
It's a seller's market, and Hirsch says he's been able to seek out winemakers interested in the same things he is -- "better wines, not money and status."
He first planted on the Sonoma Coast in 1975, when the area didn't even have electricity. He and his neighbors ran in power lines in 1983 ("It's been downhill all the way. Noisy refrigerators, kids playing computers, it's terrible"). But he remains isolated, two hours from San Francisco and 20 minutes down a dirt road from his mailbox.
He recalls first visiting this land with a friend, when he was in the market for cheap property. "This friend of mine said, 'Why don't you plant Pinot up there?' as we stood in the middle of this sheep field. He said, 'Plant Pinot here and you'll be famous.' "
And is he?
"I'm almost as famous as my cat."
Matching Hirsch for renegade qualities and net eccentricity is Whitcraft, who says winemaking is an intriguing blend of art and science, fulfilling his creative urges while providing him with plenty to drink. "You can't lick a painting."
Hirsch uses traditional, hand-crafted techniques in making his wines. "I don't use electricity. I sort the grapes by hand. They are not put to a de-stemmer or crusher, They are foot-stomped. I don't do anything to them other than process them."
His yield, like Hirsch's, is low -- 50 cases for his first wine 10 years ago, 75 for the second. The most he's ever gotten was nearly 300 cases in 1997. For his 2000 vintage he expects half that. "It depends on what God gives you -- Mother Nature, actually -- I don't think God cares."
He makes wine, Whitcraft says, because he likes to drink it and can't afford the ones he'd like to buy. "I try to make the best wine that I can ... I drink as much of it as I can and then sell the rest."
Much of what will be poured for in this weekend's select Pinot tasting sessions will be rare Whitcraft wines that you can't even find in Hawaii. But still, this emphasis on Pinot has a point for the average Joe.
Pinot does have a reputation as an "artistic wine," beyond everyday tastes and pocketbooks, says wine merchant Field. For a long time, the great Pinots were selling for $50 and up.
But the wine has grown affordable and accessible through mass-market producers, which is the true mark of success for a grape, Field says.
He cites some good Pinots in the $13-and-under-range: recent bottlings of Robert Mondavi, Fetzer and even Turning Leaf.
And this important, why?
"It's important because the flavor structure that Pinot Noir offers translates to more enjoyment with food than any other red varietal," Field says.
Translation: Tastes good with dinner.
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