Pinot Noir around the world

[wondersofwine]

At Ballantyne Resort Allen Meadows (Burghound) hosted a panel with winemakers or owners from Saintsbury (Dick Ward), Fiddlehead Vineyards (Kathy Joseph), Domaine Serene in Oregon, King Estate in Oregon, and a representative of Louis Jadot in Burgundy, France. We had eight or ten wines to sample. From New Zealand a Felton Road and one I can't recall the name. Felton Road is from Central Otago and the other was from Martinborough. I was not impressed with either.
California Pinots included a Saintsbury Brown Ranch, a Fiddlehead from Santa Rita Hills, a Landmark Kastania from Sonoma and possibly one more I'm forgetting (maybe a Saintsbury Carneros?). From Oregon we had the Domaine Serene Evanstad and the King Estate Pinot Noirs. From Louis Jadot a Chambolle-Musigny Les Feusselottes 1er Cru (sells for about $59 at one USA website)and a Gevrey-Chambertin (not sure if this was a village wine or the premier cru Clos Saint-Jacques or another). My favorites were the King Estate above all others, then the Landmark Kastania, the Saintsbury Brown Ranch and the Louis Jadot Chambolle-Musigny in undetermined order. I scored the King Estate 18.5 out of 20 and the other three mentioned as favorites around 17.5-18. The Louis Jadot representative spoke about the different soil of Chambolle-Musigny and Gevrey-Chambertin and how this terroir difference leads to a smooth, fragrant C-M and a more muscular Gevrey. I usually end up preferring the more velvety style as I did in this case (but there are exceptions to that for me). Very impressed with the King Estate (possibly 2004). The Oregon winemakers also called 2003 a difficult or challenging vintage.