A long-term contact (from Canada) was in Beaune this week, he and his compatriots enjoying a more than enviable week of tastings, but on Friday evening he thrust into my grubby hands a couple of bottles – “I’m saying nothing, just tell me what you think of these.”

They are both 2009 pinot noirs from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. They sport heavy ‘sommelier’ bottles – particularly the Blue Mountain. The Foxtrot has the longer, more impressive looking cork. So here goes:

2009 Foxtrot, Erickson Vineyard Pinot Noir
Ooh – quite pale – approaching the colour of a Côte d’Or rosé or maybe a pinot from Alsace! It’s a pretty nose with a faint sous-bois, a suggestion of salinity and Marsala – both clean and interesting. Fresh, a little depth of good texture that ends with a modest point of tannin and a flavour that’s suggestive of some whole clusters. Like a salted caramel in the finish with a faint barrel-toast effect. Hmm – this is easy drinking, quite delicious wine with a lovely width of finish.

2009 Blue Mountain, Reserve Pinot Noir
Just a little deeper colour – not by much though! A nose of much more volume, freshness and a more pronounced sous-bois – I find this really attractive, though anyone who doesn’t know older pinot will just say ‘it’s stinky’ (and did!) Nice depth of flavour here with a decent freshness and a caramel/bitter oak-toast tannin – never too much though – and there’s a growing accent of florality to the flavour. Ultimately the Foxtrot is the easier drink today, but this has a little more youth, a little more intensity and weight of flavour, but the modest bitterness in the finish means the first wine is the more delicious today.

I’d happily drink either (or both!) of these – they show a little more overt age to their aromatics than a typical 7-8 year-old from the Côte d’Or, but the aromas and flavours are delivered with the cleanliness and panache of well-made pinot. In another 3-4 years the Blue Mountain might pull ahead of the Foxtrot, but, today, that latter wine wins by a neck chez nous…

Following my recent cellar investigation, my last bottle from this producer turned up – it was the youngest I ever owned – a 1999.

During the late 1990s the doyen of British independent wine-retailers was Oddbins, and whilst they made as much money selling beer and cigarettes as they did wine, they had a treasure trove of small and interesting producers side-by-side with walls of the latest Shiraz on special offer – here is one such example. Such a shame that the shops that currently wear that name bear no more than a skin-deep resemblance!

Anyway, back to Kent! I bought this cuvée from the 1996 to 1999 vintages, inclusive, and enjoyed them all, but it was nearly 10 years since my last bottle. Along the way there had been other interesting bottles from Kent; the Ramsey Petite Syrah and a 1996 Ramsey Reserve Napa Valley Syrah – the latter could have been sourced from Berry Bros.(?) – but back to my first love: As it was an ‘older bottle’ I chose the screwpull – my lever-action ‘tool’ has a habit of snapping the older corks in two – well in this case the cork simply disintegrated, erupting into a heap of bits. Fortunately very little ended up in the bottle-neck. Frankly there was a little oxidation to the aromas, dovetailing with a little vanilla and plum, but the fat, flavour and texture of this wine was still remarkably lovely – I’d probably be bemoaning a lack of acidity if it came from the Côte d’Or, but regardless, it seems that this one was drunk in the nick (maybe 2-3 years too late?) of time!

So let’s try that champion du monde. Shame it was delivered just after I left for Beaune – it would have been good to open with the team.

2008 Donatsch, Pinot Noir ‘Passion’ [Switzerland]
The nose needs a bit of time to open, but when it does there’s a small impression of chalky fruit, then a reasonably concentrated and high-toned raspberry, finally a forward brûlée (mainly vanilla) note. Actually the fruit/brûlée mix is quite nice. In the mouth it is round, very well textured – very smooth – and like the nose has lots of additional mid-palate dimension that is vanilla oak derived. It reminds me of a Beaune – actually a slightly fatter version of the very good 2007 Beaune 1er Blanche Fleurs from Dublère that I had last Thursday. The acidity is nothing more than an undercurrent, just making itself known through a little mouthwatering in the finish. In summary, even by the standards of Burgundy this is a good wine. It has been expertly oaked, such that while it’s not really lacking any density, the oak is also not really letting much character show – not yet anyway – though the fruit is of decent quality, perhaps a zip more of acidity might have helped. Despite that (today) minor character reservation, my 80++ year-old mother-in-law thought it very tasty, me too!
Rebuy – Yes

How much? By Swiss standards this is relatively inexpensive at 30 Swiss Francs per bottle from the domaine.

The Prince of Pinot needn’t worry – I won’t make a habit of it – but this is rather good….

2006 Rhys, Alpine Vineyard
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose starts all baked red fruit, perhaps faint Geranium too, then it takes on a more stemmy dimension – not in the gothic manner of l’Arlot or some Dujac of similar age – rather the balance that both those (and Bourée come to think of it) can achieve with about 6 or 7 years bottle age – so the early integration here is mega-commendable. With each sniff I think I can put my finger on something specific, but each time I return it’s changed again – certainly a little sweet, stewed rhubarb (I like rhubarb). In the mouth this has a slightly plush, but not fat texture – the tannin is of a very soft velvet but the mid-palate into the finish, despite majoring on sweet barrel flavours, is epic – very impressive indeed, both dimension and super-long. If I blindly look at all my benchmarks, I might guess a Dujac Combottes from a ripe but just about balanced vintage, perhaps 2006 but riper. Really excellent wine.
Rebuy – Yes

The boys of Noble Wine (who are occasional advertisers here) are some of the rare importers of Kevin Harvey’s wines from the US into Europe. Kevin is a very keen follower of things burgundian so I was very interested in what his personal rendition of pinot noir might be. I have this and a ‘Rhys’ (though it also says Rhys on the cork of this wine) which I’ll also open in the next days. I’m not really expecting ‘burgundy’, but given the costs of export/import, these cost me (even with a ‘good price’) something in the order of a cheaper grand cru.

2006 Alesia, San Mateo County
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose wears a heavy, musky pinot fruit and it’s edged first with a fine layer of vanilla then a slightly thicker layer of a faint pyrazine-type scent – at this intensity I find it interesting rather than off-putting. Swirl harder and a finer red cherry aroma attempts to escape the rim, time adds a little smokiness that mainly melds with the pyrazine to give a stem aroma. In the mouth this is faintly plush and very silky – you have to seriously chew to get a hint of tannic grain – in fact to find any tannin at all. There is a little vanilla cream that runs through the centre of the wine and into the finish, a long finish with a long-lasting mineral core. Occasionally I have the impression of a little warmth on swallowing but can’t be bothered to check the alcohol content – if it’s high it just means I must drink less! Whilst that finish is pleasantly mouth-watering, I feel this just needs a slight acid-lift to make me crave the next sip. I look to my normal benchmarks, but frankly I don’t have a burgundy village or cru that I can compare this to. Very tasty but I’d like it a little more refreshing.

Given that I paid a price for 2 bottles and so don’t know the individual prices it’s hard to ascribe a value. On an average base I overpaid for this one and underpaid for the ‘Rhys’ which will follow. At the average, and as nice as this wine is, I wouldn’t be rebuying. Actually the back label (the front, as you can see is very basic, very pretty but basic) doesn’t mention the alcohol content – I’m not sure if that’s legal in Europe, but I certainly don’t care!