Lachini 2007 Giselle Pinot Noir

Type: Dry red
Made with: Pinot Noir
Plays well with: A rich cut of meat or just by itself

Lachini Vineyards is a small family winery in Washington state – that’s buying its pinot noir from Oregon.

Now, we know that Oregon and Washington have become really well known for their pinots over the past few years, and it was really fun to catch a few of them at the Pinot Days tasting in Santa Monica, earlier this year, especially this lovely example.

Pinot noir is best known for its temperamental nature, which means that it’s hard to find really good ones.  What will sometimes happen with Oregon and Washington pinots is that occasionally, you’ll get a slightly under-ripe harvest.  Maybe it got cold before the grapes could get to full ripeness.  Maybe there was more rain than usual and mold was beginning to become a problem.  Either way, you’ll sometimes get a pinot that has a lot of stem taste.

Good pinots, from riper harvests, taste more like spices or roses, and the Lachini Giselle has plenty of both.

You start with an almost literal bouquet of roses in the nose.  Then there’s the mouth feel, which has a really nice rich texture that fills the mouth and is happy to stay a while, but like a good guest, it doesn’t stay too long.  The balance of the fruit, acids and tannins is very satisfying, nor is it too hot, alcohol-wise, at only 14.2 percent.  In fact, this one would make a very nice sipper on its own.

Wait, did we say that?  Good pinot demands that it be drunk with food.  Real food, such as a nice beefy steak, some grilled pork tenderloin – maybe even the sort of traditional white tablecloth kind of meal, with baby potatoes and froofy sauce.  Yum.  But, yeah, okay.  The Giselle is still good on its own, though at $65 a bottle, we’ll break out the white tablecloth and the food to go with it.

You can find Lachini 2007 Giselle Pinot Noir on the Vineyard website, www.lachinivineyards.com

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