Thanksgiving, Turkey and wine...

[Jersey]

Well Thanksgiving is all about food and friends, add some good wine and Thanksgiving has the makings of the best holiday of the year. With Turkey as the center piece for the table Pinot becomes the wine of choice. As I don't have much Pinot experience the following was a bit of a wander into the unknown.

We had a couple more bottles than planned for thanks giving so I will recall the best that I can. Started off with a blind taste NZ Pinot vs Tas Pinot.

Peregrine Pinot Noir 2003 - Wow, this was a real mouthful, dark for a Pinot Noir, loads of fruit and some good spiceness, the palert was full, smooth and rounded out with a nice earthyness, one person actually picked it as a shiraz (from the nose).

Ninth Island Pinot Noir 2004 - Nose was more powerful than the Peregrine but fell way short in taste, the nose and pallet seemed like two different wines. Was a lighter colour and weedy, disjointed. Improved after some time to breathe.

Babich Reserve Pinot Noir 2002 , The nose was raising ooohhss and ahhhs from the tabel, quite an earthy wine, very smooth mouth feel and a good strong finish singing of mushrooms and spice, mushrooms being suprisingly dominant, however melowed over the next hour. This was a heck of a good Pinot best of the three was the tables opinion.

Next blind taste Les Marechaux Premieres Cotes De Blaye 01 vs Pirramimma Shiraz 02. Well easy one 1st smell of the Frenc wine gave it away then the taste and we would have put the farm up on it.

Les Marechaux Premieres Cotes De Blaye 01 Nose was lacking and not showy at all, the taste was quickly pointed out as marzipan and this was not popular.

Pirramimma Shiraz 02, After the Les Marechaux the nose of the Pirramimma was over bearing, huge fruit, it was a big wine.

Penfolds 407 2000. Best wine of the night(?) superb nose full of black berries and herbs, in the mouth was well balanced and enough to have a non wine drinker impressed. Very impressive wine here, I am looking for more as I have only 1 left. Finish was good and left the mouth asking for more.

Cape Mentelle Trinders Cab/merlot '03. Nose was a little more green than the 407, so was the palet, a good wine whos only real let down was the fact we opened it against the Penfolds 407. At 16.00 a bottle well worth getting more.

Oh the (?) for the 407 wine of the night refers to the fact the two NZ Pinots got the nod as WOTN because it went so well with the food, Turkey, turkey and more Turkey! Also the Pinots had so much nose and flavor they would again be drunk with the food over the 407.

And we didn't crack the Craggy range '02 Merlot or the Felton '00 block 3 Pinot or the TM Colleraine 02 so Christmas dinner should be a good one too. Will try to take better notes and post a review.

Mick

[bacchaebabe]

Mick,

you should try to get some decent sparkling shiraz. It's a match made in heaven for Turkey - well at least here in Australia when the weather is hot. The Rockford Sparkling Balck or the Seppelt Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz are two of the best of you can track them down, which might be a challenge over there.