You know what’s really fun?
Doing a blind tasting with your friends who all love wine, but have varying degrees of wine knowledge, and pour only Pinot Noir from regions all over the world and let them think that the wines could be anything.
But honestly, it’s fascinating how different Pinot Noir can taste depending on region and style that the wine was made.
In our tasting I threw in a Pinot Noir made using Carbonic Maceration.
CARBONIC MACERATION
Carbonic Maceration is a form of fermenting grapes that is particularly popular in making Beaujolais from the Gamay grape.
The winemaker will throw whole clusters of uncrushed grapes into a tank and then fill the tank with CO2 to remove all the oxygen. Grapes naturally create a small amount of alcohol within their cells when kept in an oxygen free environment.
Once the grapes have hit 2% alcohol levels, the skins burst open and the juice is released. The wine is then pressed from the skins and yeast is added to finish off the fermentation process.
This process leaves little tannin in the wine and gives off very distinctive notes of fresh fruit (especially cherry) along with other interesting flavors such as bubble gum and baking spices.
SEMI CARBONIC MACERATION
This process is very similar, but instead of filling the vats with CO2, the grapes at the bottom of the vat are crushed by the weight of the berries on top and ambient yeast in the tank starts to ferment the juices which fills the vast with CO2 and allows the rest of the berries to ferment with carbonic maceration.
The grapes will slowly be crushed by using punch down over a few days which will decrease the amount of carbonic maceration until all the grapes are broken up. Winemakers believe that this gives better aroma integration and can also produce even fruiter flavors.
So interesting right?? These wines are very different from anything you’ve tried before and I highly recommend checking them out!
WINES TO TRY
Looking to try out these wines for yourself? Find a few examples below!
2018 “Eden-A-Vent” Pinot Noir – $36
2017 Georges DuBoef Beaujolais Villages – $12.99
2017 Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages – $12.99
2016 Henry Fessy Chateau des Labourons Fleurie – $18.99
