A wine writing colleague told me many years ago that a good Burgundy should always smell of poo! My thoughts then are the same as now, that the cheese had slipped off his toastie. Seriously folks, it you ever open a bottle of wine and it smells like poo, don’t drink it. The idea that a bottle costing several hundred pounds has to have hints of the farmyard about it still pervade today, but my guess is that it only occurs in those with far more cash than common sense.
Burgundy is still the spiritual home of Pinot Noir and I suspect that will always be the benchmark but it’s not a level playing field in the world of Pinot anymore. The New world are producing some incredible examples with an array of styles that the Burgundians can only dream of and and many of them are matching the top Burgundies aroma for aroma, taste for taste. The big difference is the price! More often than not Im tasting New World Pinot's between £15 and £30 that can only be matched in France if you spend three or four times that amount so sadly, while I love having a classy bottle from Vosne Romanee in the rack, common sense tells me to leave it for an occasion when sentiment matters more than intellect. In the meantime it’s the Americas, both North and South who are leading the pack, with some simply stunning examples of silky, perfumed wines coming from Chile and California in particular and the only nod to Burgundy is the curve topped bottle.
Arboleda Pinot Noir, Chile
Oh my this is a stunner folks. The nose is perfumed with rosehips and the palate is awash with silky cherry flavours and soft rounded tannins. I've had this one twice recently, once with a vegetarian tart and the second time with a rustic lump or roast ham and it was sublime on both occasions.
Corney & Barrow, Ayr £21.95
Folie a Deux, Sonoma
Ripe strawberry flavours with hints of coffee on the finish and a soft, silky palate
Waitrose £19.99
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