Class Is in Session: A DIY Pinot Tasting at Home

You don't need a cellar or a sommelier certification to host a good tasting. Just butcher paper, a few glasses, and good company.

Set the table. Roll out butcher paper as your tablecloth. It's inexpensive, forgiving, and works as a tasting notebook. Guests can jot notes, doodle, or rank their favorites right on the table.

Tasting Pinot Noir side by side is the best way to learn it. Build a flight that shows the range, from sparkling to still, clone to clone, site to site. Pour small: an ounce or two per glass is plenty for comparing.

Pinot Noir loves food. Build a spread of:
* Soft cheeses (Brie, triple crème, or a young goat cheese)
* Fresh figs, cherries, or stone fruit
* Charcuterie — a good salami or prosciutto brings out Pinot's savory side

If you want to keep it simple, our Pinot Profiles pack is a great way to taste the different charachteristics of Pinot. Here's a lineup to try:

2024 Pommard Clone Pinot Noir — A single-block wine handled with a traditional Burgundian-style open-top fermentation, letting the Pommard clone (aka UCD5) speak for itself.

Blanc de Noir — A white sparkling wine made from "black" Pinot Noir grapes, aged a minimum of three years on the lees. Fruity, fleshy, full-bodied, and a house original since our first vintage in 1991.

2022 Brut Rosé — Its pink hue comes from a brief skin-contact maceration, with Chardonnay added for structure. Aged a minimum of three years on the lees. Balanced, fruity, floral.

2024 Pinot Clair — A white wine made from "black"-skinned Pinot Noir, night-picked and gently pressed. This year's blend is 60% Pommard clone and 40% Swan selection, with 14 months on the lees and 6 months in bottle.

2023 Le Ciel Serein Pinot Noir — From Bliss Hill, the ranch behind that iconic Windows XP wallpaper. Lush and aromatic, and a favorite among our Pinot regulars.

2023 Estate Pinot Noir — A blend of twenty clones from our six sustainably certified Estate Vineyards, showing the full mosaic of Carneros terroir.

Every good class needs a reading list. Here are three books worth picking up this season:

Pinot Girl by Anna Maria Ponzi A memoir from Oregon Pinot royalty about a family, a region, and a grape that rewards patience.

A trilogy Napa Valley: Napa: The Story of an American Eden, The Far Side of Eden, and Napa at Last Light. by James Conaway. A detailed, unflinching chronicle of Napa Valley's transformation over the decades. Great reading.

Wines of California by Elaine Chukan Brown thorough, region-by-region guide to California wine, and a good way to understand why our corner of Carneros makes the wines it does.

Stack them on your nightstand, pour a glass, and get to studying.