This weekend I had the luxury of having dinner at Langdon Hall, an absolutely beautiful Relais and Châteaux spa hotel near Cambridge, Ontario.  In addition to the spa, Langdon Hall is known for its wine list which is over 34 pages long. With a list of wines from all over the world to choose from where do you start??!!  I thought it would be interesting to focus on finding the right Pinot Noir for our dinner. 

Why Pinot Noir:

Why Pinot Noir?  It’s lighter than a Cabernet and I think it can be a good pairing with many different foods depending on the type of Pinot Noir you select. It’s light enough to have with salmon and complex enough for red meat (but I wouldn’t pair it with grilled steak). Pinot Noir creates beautiful wines with very different tastes and characteristics associated with where the wine comes from. It is the main grape used in the production of red wines from Burgundy, France and is also grown in Oregon, California, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. 

Where Pinot Noir is Grown and How it Tastes:

As a generalization, the Pinot Noir wines from the warmer regions like Australia and California tend to offer more powerful red fruit jam flavours whereas the Pinot Noir from cooler regions like Burgundy in France offer more delicate red fruit (strawberry, raspberry, black or red cherry) and earthy aromas and flavours like mushroom and wet leaves that become more pronounced as the wine ages.  A traditional aged red burgundy can also offer aromas of a “farmyard” or “barnyard” reflecting the complexity of the terrain or “terroir” (the type of soil, climate, location) on which the vines are planted.  New Zealand is also well-known for producing some beautiful Pinot Noir wines with bigger, riper red fruit flavours than the wines from Burgundy.

Selecting the Wine from the Wine List:

Knowing we wanted a Pinot Noir, we narrowed our focus to Burgundy, New Zealand or Oregon.  Why these three particular regions?  Well, Burgundy is the most famous Pinot Noir producing region with some of the most complex and delicious wines (often with very hefty price tags too).  I figured since we were at Langdon Hall selecting from such an extensive wine list we should give Burgundy a try.  (We also had a $100 credit to use towards our wine selection – I preferred to drink the spa credit!!).  New Zealand offers gorgeous fruity, easy-to-drink and smooth Pinot Noirs.  Oregon happens to sit on the same latitude as Burgundy and has attracted famous French wine makers from Burgundy including Robert Drouhin who opened his winery  in the 1980s.  His Pinot Noir from Domaine Drouhin is one of the best I have ever tried - incredible smooth, delicate Pinot Noir.    (Note:  I just read in the LCBO Vintages magazine that the Domaine Drouhin Roserock Pinot Noir 2014 is in stock.  $39.95 and a score of 94 from James Suckling – I’m planning to buy a bottle – guaranteed it will be fantastic.)

Santenay:

With help from Thomas Simons, the sommelier, we selected a Pinot Noir made by Vincent Girardin from a village called Santenay in Burgundy.  We wanted to enjoy a fruity, earthy wine and this was his recommendation. It was definitely fruity – big ripe cherries and raspberries with some earthiness.  But the wine was really tart and tight with a heavy amount of tannins (tannins are compounds found in the grape skins that leave that leathery texture in your mouth after you dink the wine).  It felt like the wine hadn’t aged enough or certainly needed to breath to allow it to open up and become smoother to drink.  Even after Thomas decanted the wine, it was still so tart and really not enjoyable.  This wine needs much longer in the cellar.  I asked Thomas to try the wine for us because I wanted his opinion – he agreed!! Too tight, too tart – not great.  And with that, he took the bottle and recommended a better alternative.

2010 Monthelie, Côte de Beaune, Burgundy:

Our next bottle was from Paul Garoudet, Cuvée Paul, Monthelie Burgundy.  This is a beautiful Pinot Noir wine with aromas of ripe cherries, red berry fruits, lighter earthy notes and a little spice.  It is delicious and velvety smooth, light and easy to drink.  Delicious with lamb or any lighter red meats.  Unfortunately, I don’t think this wine is available at the LCBO so you’ll have to go to Langdon Hall to try it!

I must complete this post by saying the dinner at Langdon Hall was absolutely decandent.  Every course was so flavourful and perfectly prepared from lobster to artichoke puree to lamb and then out-of-this world chocolate desserts made with their own chocolate!! I highly recommend a visit there for a special occasion.

If you like Pinot Noir and are interested in another posting, I will be doing a review in the coming weeks of Pinot Noir wines available at the LCBO priced no higher than $40.  Stay tuned!