Recent Pinot Party Validates Traditional INAO Theory: Price Reflects Quality

INAO stands for “Institute National Appellations of Origin”.  It is the branch of the French Department of Agriculture that sets standards and enforces laws guarding the credibility of products with controlled origins.   In other words, if a wine is called “Burgundy or Bourgogne in French” then it must be grown in certain soils within specific boundaries, be limited to certain yields, only be produced from certain grape varieties and vinified by certain methods.   And, if simply called “Wine or Vin in French” the requirements are much less specific or stringent.

Pinot Party is an official American Wine Society Pinot Noir wine judging.   It was started by Dan and Jackie Hansen and with the help of Rod and Jo Schmidt, it has become an annual  AWS event.   Although Pinot Noir is the only grape variety present, the region or style of wine varies from year to year.  The 2017 Pinot Party judged only Pinot Noir from Burgundy, France.   Those wishing to participate were required to bring one bottle of Burgundy per person.   As the people and Burgundies arrived, Jo Schmidt and her crew put the bottles in numbered bags and put the same number on the bottle.  This way, the number code tells them which judging table to send each wine and allows all to taste and evaluate each wine without divulging its identity.  We all use the 20 point American Wine Society scoring system.

This year, I also gave a short presentation of older Burgundies to the whole group of tasters.  A good friend of wine in West Michigan, John Beadle, passed away about 11 years ago.  His widow Sue is in the process of selling their Michigan house and moving permanently to Florida.   She generously donated the majority of the wines that I used for this presentation and I supplemented those with a few that Alice and I had in our own cellar.  Most Burgundy drinkers feel that a Burgundy wine is rarely ready before 5 years, but, rarely improves after 8.  That is not to say that the wine starts going downhill after 8 years, it just doesn’t necessarily get any better.  These wines were all much much older than that.   Here is what we tasted:

1952 Domaine Duchet POMMARD, Cotes de Beaune
1970 Bouchard Pere & Fils POMMARD, Cotes de Beaune
1971 Jules Belin NUITS ST GEORGES Clos de l’Arlot 1er Cru, Cotes de Nuits
1971 Jules Belin GEVREY CHAMBERTIN Combe Aux Moines 1er Cru, Cotes de Nuits
1978 Coron Pere & Fils BEAUNE  Le Clos du Roi 1er Cru “Cuvee de Centenaire 1879-1979”, Cotes de Beaune
1981 Domaine Servelle Tachot CLOS VOUGEOT Grand Cru, Cotes de Nuits

 The wine with the best color and most compelling varietal Pinot Noir flavor was the 1952.   It was certainly an old wine, but, not really showing any signs of consuming itself or dying.   Next best, was the 1978 and the 1981 which both held onto good Burgundian earth flavors mingling with dried cherries and prunes.   Again, very old, but certainly still alive.   The other three were pretty tired and though still drinkable, not to many of the tasters liking.   Clearly, stylistic preferences in the cellar made more difference than the actual age or specific vineyard site.   All of the wines were at least village wines from the top villages of the Cotes d’Or with the two 71’s being Premieur Cru and the ’81 Grand Cru.

After the tasting of old wines, we had a couple of good solid younger wines in the 4-5 year old range to demonstrate what a good typical Burgundy should taste like so that all of the judges had a basic idea of what to expect from the majority of wines to be judged.   As it turned out, there was only one seven year old wine and one six year old wine with the rest being 5 years or younger in the judging.

French Burgundy is stratified based on quality of the vineyard, and traditionally the value of the wines.  The wines coming from the best known villages typically sell for more money.   Not coincidentally, those popular villages have a greater number of vineyards designated Premieur Cru and Grand Cru than those villages considered by the wine buyers as “lesser” villages not worthy of the higher prices.   Because a general attitude in agricultural circles has evolved both here and abroad that if the site is such that fruit ripens perfectly, is capable of sustaining healthy plants and has good soil structure to insure good drainage that wines of the highest order should be possible.   Because of this, many relatively unappreciated villages have been recently promoted from “generic” status to “village” status and many of the vineyards from the lesser known villages have been promoted from “village with a recognized vineyard” to a “village with a Premieur Cru”.   There are not a lot of 1er Cru vineyards among the lesser known villages, but, if you can find them, they way over deliver for the money.  Although, these are typically the wines that I purchase for Alice and I because they really are delightful wines and quite affordable, in reality, there is a reason why people have been willing to pay top dollar for the most popular and most well known wines for centuries.   Grading a wine based entirely on the price it commands seems unfair and very undemocratic in today’s way of thinking, but, that sort of traditional assessment of value is valid as the results of this tasting will clearly show.

We had 37 wines and 37 judges.   So, five tables of six and one table of seven wines conducted the preliminary panel judging.   All of the second place wines were re-judged to come up with a “wild card” second place wine that would be re-judged again with all of the first place wines.  Therefore, only the top seven wines are given a final ranking.   The other 30 wines were only ranked at the individual panels in order to come up with the top seven wines overall.  Here are a few of the statistical conclusions that I derived from the tasting panel scores.

We had only one 1er (Premieur) Cru and it came from what most buyers would call a “lesser” village.  It was a Santenay 1er Cru Les Graviers and it came in first place in its panel judging.

Village wines from the best known and most expensive villages all came in first place in their respective panel judgings.   We had a Gevrey Chambertin, a Morey St Denis and a Chassagne Montrachet.   All first place wines.

We judged six village wines from what are traditionally considered “lesser” villages though today enjoy the same official status as the more popular and more expensive villages above.  From Marsannay, there was a second, a third and two fifth place wines; from Chorey Les Beaune a fourth place wine and from Auxey Duresses another fourth place wine.   So, although in today’s way of thinking, these are considered the equal of the group above, in fact, the traditional ranking  shows clearly that price matters.   Marsannay may have sites every bit the equal of Gevrey Chambertin as far as producing healthy plants and perfectly sound grapes, but, there is clearly something special about wines from Gevrey Chambertin that inspires wine drinkers to pay quadruple the price for what is now officially the same quality.  In fact, statistically, the wines of the lesser villages did no better than the generic Bourgogne (Burgundy in English) wines in this judging. 

The majority of wines entered (25) were simply Bourgogne or Bourgogne Pinot Noir, synonyms for red wine hailing from any of the recognized areas within Burgundy suitable for growing Pinot Noir.   The rankings for these wines ranged from first to last with two firsts (out of 6 panels), five seconds, five thirds, three fourths, three fifths, five sixths, and one seventh.  Being that 25 out of 37 were generic Burgundies, it is no surprise that the scores were all over the place as a group.  However, because no one knows what anyone else brought, several people brought the same wine which was judged by different panels.  Statistically significant is the fact that four people brought 2014 Louis Jadot  Bourgogne Pinot Noir and all four came in last place.   The bottle at our table was my last place wine.  I tasted all of them after the preliminary judging just to see what people didn’t like about that wine.   All tasted exactly the same and although I would accept that all possessed typical Burgundy terroir and Pinot varietal flavors that in every case an undesirable “swamp gas” like odor wafted up as soon as one’s nose reached the glass and that characteristic seemed to stay through the finish and exhale.

One other oddity in this tasting is that a couple of non-Pinot Noir wines sneeked in.   Unless one is a certified Sommelier, French wine labels are sufficiently confusing to throw off even the most seasoned wine enthusiasts.  We had two Beaujolais wines made entirely from Gamay grapes; no Pinot Noir.   We had a Morgon and a Cotes de Brouilly.   Interestingly, to the letter of the French AOC (Appellation of Origin Controlee) laws, any wine produced in any of the ten Beaujolais Cru villages with a high percentage of granite in the soils according to AOC regulations is allowed to call itself Bourgogne Rouge.   Confusing?  I tasted the two offending wines and there is clearly a method to the INAO’s madness.   Indeed, the two Gamay wines, to my taste, were identical to the general character of the rest of the Bourgogne Pinot Noir wines that were entered.   Yes, Gamay grapes grown in granite based soils are pretty much indistinguishable from Pinot Noir.   Go figure!

Here are my top ten:

2014  Pascal Marchand MOREY ST DENIS, Rue de Vergy, Cotes de Nuits (about $80) donated by Sara Carlson Huge forest floor, baked toasted dried fruit and pastry crust smells  merge with bright, almost nervous vivid red cherry and cranberry-like fruit essence.  The persistent fruit gives youth and vigor to the somewhat mature seeming complex Burgundian nuances of earth, cedar, leather, tobacco and coffee that linger throughout the long finish that grips the palate.  My score 19/20 points, 1st place, final group score 2nd place (out of 37 wines).

 2010 Domaine Bader-Mimeur Chateau de CHASSAGNE MONTRACHET, Cotes de Beaune (about $40) donated by Jackie Hansen The ruby red color is remarkably well saturated though bright and transparent.  Huge complex Kirsch-like fruit and minerals build through the mid palate leaving caramel, coffee and cedar in the rich finish. My score 18+/20 points, 2nd place, final group score 6th place tie (out of 37 wines).

 2015 Louis Latour BOURGOGNE Pinot Noir (about $25) donated by Scott Coduti Extremely characteristic, really a prototypical Burgundy.  A fine example of good Pinot Noir so typical of what one expects driving up the Route du Vin in Northern Burgundy.  It is plump with expressive strawberry and watermelon subtleties finishing clean and fresh.  My score 17/20 points, 3rd place, final group score not ranked.

 2015 Antonin Rodet BOURGOGNE Pinot Noir (about $16) donated by Bob Standish Again, this wine makes me think of days spent in the cellars of Beaune.   Though not particularly elegant or stylish, it delivers plenty of plump, supple red fruit with very ample body, deep color and a mouth filling finish.  My score 16+/20 points, 4th place, final group score not ranked.

 2012 Louis Latour GEVREY CHAMBERTIN, Cotes de Nuits (about $80) donated by Alice Cain Very floral expansive bouquet opens up intensely.   The vividly fresh berry smells carry through the finish which lasts several seconds gripping the edges of the tongue as it melts away.  My score 16/20 points, 5th place tie, final group score 1st place (out of 37 wines).

 2014 Domaine Dupre BOURGOGNE Pinot Noir (about $35) duplicate wines donated by Roger Schiefler and Diane Carter This wine is actually grown in the Macon region of southern Burgundy.  Although this region is known for Gamay, this Domaine has about 6 acres of Pinot Noir from which this wine hails.   Indeed, its origin commands one’s attention as a classic “country wine” with loads of ripe fruit, rich body, and typically supple Pinot fruit.   I hint of toasty oak makes this ruby juicy wine easy to enjoy.  My score 16/20 points, 5th place tie, final group score 6h place tie (out of 37 wines).

 2012 Vincent Morey & Sophie SANTENAY 1er Cru Les Graviers, Cotes de Beaune (about $45) donated by Dan Hansen The deep color and cassis-like nose brings to mind new world Pinot Noir rather than a lesser Burgundy Cru.   The texture is perhaps the most tannic of any in the tasting suggesting that time is on its side.  I’d love to taste this rich wine in another five years.  My score 15+/20 points, 8th place, final group score 3rd place (out of 37 wines).

 2014 Albert Bichot BOURGOGNE Vieilles Vignes de Pinot Noir (about $20) duplicate wines brought by Rod Schmidt and Dan Hartman The color is deceptively light.  It has plenty of bright cherry scents and good texture to combine with a hint of sweet toffee in the finish.  Though not exactly robust on the mid palate, it is ample and whole.  My score 15/20 9th place tie, final group score 4th place (out of 37 wines).

 In most wine judgings that I participate in, I usually prefer the least expensive wines.   I believe that the European way of ranking the wines based on both natural features as well as historical pricing really makes sense.  Indeed, the wines with the century old track records made by traditional methods are the best.  Fortunately, the next tier down (great 1er Cru wines made from under appreciated locales) offer remarkable value.

 Enjoy in Good Health,                                                                                                        A.Brian Cain, the Michigan Vintner