Pinot Noir Tasting at Cafe Maxx

"Drinking is like pouring smiles on your brain."

Chris Hardwick

In my line of work we bring lots of smiles to brains all over this great state of Florida and beyond.

My line-up of smile bringing events is really heating up in October with 17 events already planned it may be hard to keep up with me this month.

We have several "Once in a Lifetime" events planned for October starting with a Pride Vertical Tasting next Friday, then: Nicolas Catena Single Vineyard Tasting, California Cult Tasting, Vintage Rinaldi Barolo Tasting, Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau D'Yquem Tasting with managing director Pierre Lurton, Lewis Cellars Wine Dinner at Michael Mina 74 in the Fountainebleau and then the 1982 Big Eight Tasting featuring: Lafite, Mouton, Margaux, Haut Brion, Latour, Cheval Blanc, Petus and Ausone!!

And that's not all we still have the Gaja Barbaresco and white truffle tasting on October 25th to finish off just the "Once in a Lifetime" events!!!  It’s called a “Once in a Lifetime” tasting because we’re going all the way back to the legendary 1964 vintage, Angelo Gaja’s first vintage at the helm and it's the last bottle we have of this incredible wine.

That is not even mentioning our other events that we have next month, like these every other Wednesday tastings that we have at Cafe Maxx.  To start out the month on Wednesday, October 1st the subject of study at Café Maxx will be the Pinot Noir Varietal. 

At one time Pinot Noir was thought to be the world's most finicky grape varietal and that it would only grow in a few places where it could turn out a world class wine.  Today, we can find excellent examples of the Pinot Noir varietal from all over the wine world; Germany, Austria, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Tasmania, New Zealand, South Africa, California, Oregon and of course the mother land for this varietal Burgundy, France.

These tastings at the Cafe Maxx for $35 are the best value of any event that we do. You get to try 8 different wines at the same time, pre-poured so they have a chance to open up and so you can go back through the line-up to get a second and third look at everything. This is how you learn about wine and with master chef Oliver Saucy sending out a few small courses to accompany the wines, you get a taste of Cafe Maxx and an education in wine all at the same time- A great way to spend happy hour.

Tonight we will feature Pinot Noir from around the world. This is a pre-poured sit down tasting and is limited to 25 tasters, the fee for this tasting is $35 + Gratuity + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463.

Pinot Noir Tasting at Cafe MaxxWednesday, October 1, 20146:30 PM

2012 Altamont Wine Studio Pinot Noir Adelaide Hills

Price: $28.00    Sale $24.64    Case $286

Altamont Wine studio is the brain child Of Brendon Keys. His aim is to make the highest quality wines possible, the idea revolves around using only small but very high quality batches of Adelaide Hills fruit. Altamont is a very small winery, with the latest state of the art equipment for small batch premium winemaking, and all managed by people who love their wine. Cool label too…

"The vivid, retro label will absolutely polarize opinion - once seen, never forgotten - which, I suppose, was the intention. The wine has excellent purple-crimson color, the bouquet and palate with a plush array of red and black cherry, supple tannins and integrated oak. It has the balance to develop very well over the next five years. Very good value.” – 94 Points & Special Value Wine James Halliday

2011 Copain Tous Ensemble Pinot Noir Anderson Valley

Price: $28.00    Sale $24.64    Case $286

The 2011 Tous Ensemble Pinot Noir is a blend of fruit harvested from several parcels within the Anderson Valley. The delicately perfumed aromatics of spice and floral notes frame the soft supple body with flavors of just-ripened red fruits and rich earth. Bright acidity carries through for an elegant finish. Enjoy now or within five years.

2012 Lioco Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Price: $42.50    Sale $37.40    Case $434

Elegant beyond its price point this wine is perfect on its on or with food. Blended from coastal vineyards, including Hirsch, and Teac mor along the laguna de la Santa Rosa this wine exhibits the beautiful concentration of red fruits provided by an idyllic growing season. Rich and layered but tempered with minerality this wine is ready for the drinking.

2011 Peay Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Price: $49.50    Sale $43.56    Case $505

(90 points)  Vivid red. Spicy red berry and cherry aromas are complicated by notes of dried rose, orange zest and minerals. Taut and bracing on entry, offering bitter cherry and raspberry flavors and a sexy floral pastille quality. Vibrant, precise and gently sweet on the finish, with the red berry and rose notes echoing. Nicely balanced pinot, with no excess fat whatsoever; it's a great value as well. (6/ 2013) Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

2012 Lutum Bien Nacido Pinot Noir Santa Barbara

Price: $57.50    Sale $50.60    Case $587

This is one of the most wild and complex wines we have made. The wine is a mix of incredible spice and earth with deep rich fruit and mouthwatering acidity.

The nose is teeming with lavender, pomegranate, forest floor, black tea and orange peel and is followed by wild strawberry, and guava. The palate is cool, refreshing and deceivingly long.  There are also some of the classic Bien Nacido flavors throughout like white pepper and lavender.

2012 Bergstrom Silice Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

Price: $73.75    Sale $64.90    Case $753

The 2012 Silice Pinot Noir is dark ruby with dark violet tints. Its explosive aromatics burst from the glass with high-toned red and purple flowers, bright raspberry, cherry and a comforting sweet, spicy profile reminiscent of fresh-baked berry pies. But for all its opulence, there is a stony mineral cut to this wine that keeps it honest and poignant, and it is this harmony between ripe lushness and sandstone minerality that makes the wine so delicious now. Our 2012 Silice will drink well upon release and should perform well in the bottle for the next 5-8 years.

2012 Regis Bouvier Fixin

Price: $46.50    Sale $40.92    Case $475

Régis Bouvier in Marsannay achieves a rare hat trick in Burgundy, the mastering of all three colors–red, white and rosé, through reasonable yields and high quality terroirs. Bouvier makes the best Burgundian rosé that we have ever tasted, his whites are delicious, with their own particular character completely unlike other Chardonnays from Burgundy, and his reds are his crowning achievement, managing to be wild and exciting while refined and elegant at the same time.

Bouvier’s vineyards in Marsannay are premier-cru quality (some may even get classified) and his lieu-dit Bourgogne Rouge En Montre Cul vineyard is of a quality well above most (cultivated on a steep slope, not flatland Bourgogne). And don’t miss his Morey-St-Denis En la Rue de Vergy, a superb vineyard right above the Grand Cru Clos de Tart. This domaine represents terrific value for a number of reasons–a lesser-known appellation combined with quality vineyard holdings and a conscientious and talented wine grower.  

2011 Jean Marc Vincent Santenay 1er Cru “Passetemps”

Price: $56.25    Sale $49.50    Case $574

Anne-Marie and Jean-Marc Vincent inherited most of their vines, principally located in and around the village of Santenay in the southern Côte de Beaune, from Jean-Marc’s grandfather, André Bardollet-Bravard. They produce three premier cru reds and two premier cru whites from Santenay, in addition to a red and a white Auxey-Duresses. The Vincent wines are characterized by rich, layered fruit, intense expression of individual terroir, and solid structure.

Their Auxey-Duresses Blanc “Les Hautés,” which thankfully happens to be their highest production wine (that is, more than two barrels produced), is a gem and a role model for other producers of the appellation.  This is the wine that first attracted Kermit to the domaine. “I had rarely had an Auxey-Duresses that excited my taste buds,” he said, “I knew I was on to something.”  And indeed it will embarrass many a white Burgundy with a greater pedigree. It also evolves well in one’s cellar. The Vincents’ wine operation is a family affair and A-M and J-M split their time between the vineyards, cellars and their young children. Their miniscule production always sells out quickly to a small group of devoted clients. All of their wines are a testament to the importance of vigneron talent in a given appellation. While a great vigneron can make over-achievers from any appellation, a great appellation will never be great in the hands of mediocrity.