First time Pinot Noir question

Hello Patrick,

How long is a piece of string?

For the purposes of your experiment serve around room temperature, say

The best one to start depends on a lot of things. Whether you have a sweet tooth. Where you live [it may be hard to find recommendations other ppl in the group make]. Your price range.

So I'm assuming you're in America. Just tell us whereabouts and what your price range is and what you want the wine for [to enjoy at home, for a night out, for a special dinner, for a particular dish] and I bet someone in here will have a suggestion.

And don't worry about stupid questions, I ask them all the time.

Mat.

P.S.: And the best way to "get it right" is just to keep trying stuff until you find something you like.

I agree with Mat that the best depends a lot on what you're looking for. For more accurate suggestions (though everything will still depend on personal tastes), let us know:

I'd personally serve quite a bit cooler than 21°C. I tend to serve Pinot (Burgundy or not) rather cool, maybe around 60°F (15°C?). Bigger ones might show better at something more like 65°, but they'll warm up quickly. Better too cool than too warm imnsho. :)

PS as Mat said, don't worry about questions. A fool is one who refuses to ask (or listen).

Hi Dale,

I may be a heathen but I generally prefer my reds on a cold night [cold outside] at about comfortable room temperature (as I say 21-ish celcius). This also saves on the problems of having to cool it down etc, especially for newbies [like me].

Nothing like a big red on a cold night. And the bouquet / palate is a lot easier to coax out slightly warmer, but yes, not too warm, that just spoils it. I know when you are inside and its particuarly hot inside the wine does not go particuarly well.

The only time I've ever gone to the effort of cooling / chilling a red has been for rose which to me for all intents and purposes may as well be a white, as well as a bottle of Brown Brother's Dolcetto and Syrah I think it was which was supposed to be chilled.

It was quite an odd experience. To all involved it just tasted freaky, a chilled spicy shiraz. It was very weird. Slight fizz too IIRC which made it even more freaky.

Mat.

Pathetic.

Just buy some wine and drink it, with a meal.

There is no "best one," and not even a "best one to start off with." The best one for you is the one *you* like best, and that might be very different from the one I like best. And even if you got recommendations from someone here, there would be no guarantee that you could you could find it locally.

As usual for questions like this, the best thing to do is to try several. Getting a few friends together and tasting a few side by side would be ideal, but if you can't do that just try them sequentially, when you can. Go to a good local wine store, tell them how much you want to spend, and get a few recommendations from them.

Most experience wine drinkers prefer most red wines at around

Of course not. You've a beginner and the way to get past the beginner stage is to ask questions, read, and taste. That's how we all learn.

At first I wasn't going to respond to this, as it's such a broad question - and a compound one at that! ;^)

As for serving temperature, I'd say you've been given good advice. Something around cellar temperature is good. Room temperature (72°F) is a bit too warm, but much below ~60°F will kill the aroma.

Something that may not have been mentioned is that you should serve any good wine in a proper glass. One of the finest properties of good Pinot Noir is its aroma/bouquet. You need a large glass that tapers to a smaller opening to concentrate and focus the aroma of the wine to maximum effect. Don't cheap out on the glass. A proper one will cost at least as much as the bottle of wine itself - but if you're careful handling it you can reuse it many times. BTW, don't overfill the glass. Something like a quarter to a third full is plenty.

As for specific wine suggestions, it depends on where you live. If you're in the USA, I'd recommend one of several widely distributed but solidly made (and reasonably priced!) Pinots, such as Beaulieu Vineyards (BV), Kendall-Jackson, Meridian, and even Gallo of Sonoma. When you're interested in something more exotic, pick up a copy of the Wine Spectator and see what they recommend. Once you break the $20 barrier, you can start getting into Burgundies - but be careful there; Burgundy is a minefield. You can spend a lot of money for a bottle of Burgundy and not get as much pleasure as a decent $8 bottle of California Pinot Noir delivers.

Tom S

Thank you very much for everyones help. I am in Sydney, Australia- And my local wine merchant is a tad on the cheap side. "You can get a good red in a Cask wine"- thats how cheap... Will take everyones' advice and find the one that suits me. Thank you again

In that case.....

I'm sorry to harp on, but I would go to Dan Murphy's. Even check their website for specials.

I'm pretty sure they have stores in the Syndey area.

If your local is cheaper, go there obviously.

Just go and buy some stuff and see how you go.

If you let us know your price range and the other info ppl have suggested there are some Australians in here who could point you in the right direction.

Mat.

Hi Patrick Welcome to the group and the discovery of good wines. I recently brought a case of a Mornington Peninsula Pinot - Marinda Park Norms Pinot Noir 03 from Randalls in Melbourne at $17 a bottle and it is an absolute cracker. This wine drinks Waaaaaay above it's price point (more like $40 to $50) and you can order it at

Very, very true. Unfortunately, I'm one that has to learn things the hard (and semi-expensive) way.