Analog Wines For the Digital Age

Monday, July 27, 2009

Rinascimento Wine Co at Cheese Store of Beverly Hills : Ze Pinot Trio

So the lovely people at Cheese Store of Beverly Hills (www.cheesestorebh.com) were nice enough to invite me to participate in their monthly cheese and wine tasting, which this month was centered on the Pinot Noir grape and its progeny, Pinot Gris (or Grigio if you are Italian) and Pinot Blanc (or Weisser Burgunder, if you happen to be Austrian!)

A great time was had by all and I showed 3 wines of the 6 presented that night. The Stadlmann Weisser Burgunder 2007 from Thermenregion, Austria, the Domaine Roland Schmitt Pinot Gris from Alsace, France and the Ronco Severo Pinot Grigio from Friuli, Italy, made in a "Ramato" style (i.e. fermented on the skins to get a nice copper color.)

Below is a little photo essay made from fantastice pictures taken by Anja of the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills . . . of course she could have made me a little thinner, but who is nitpicking?

Some selections of cheeses: munster, epoisses


2008 Domaine Roland Schmitt Pinot Gris

Yah, that would be me yakking . . .


and me yakking some more and lifting my feet . . .


and people listening to me yak some more . . .


who knew I was pigeon toed?


mmmmmmm, fig cake .....


Munster d'Alsace to go with the Pinot Gris


the famous Epoisses to go with the red burgundy


Big Munster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


the Cheese people treat me so well. Tony even pronounced
the name of my company correctly . . . 3 times!

beautiful summer evening with the roof open at Sharky's


The Ronco Severo of course was the most controversial wine of the night. No one had ever seen Pinot Grigio with that color or taste or smell before. Since the wine is fermented on the skins just like a red wine, it has the color of the grapes and of Pinot Grigio grapes at harvest are almost the color of copper. Plus, the wine has some tannins from the skins making it perfect for cheese and other fatty foods, but at the same time, quite disturbing for the uninitiated. Let's just say that I was dancing as fast as I could to get these people to look at the wine and Pinot Grigio through a different lens than they normally would. Tough but I made a few converts.


The Stadlmann Weisser Burgunder was the revelation of the night. Crisp, almost salty in its minerality, it showed the best of what Austrian white wines can be when grown in the right areas by the right people. Just lovely.

A good time was definitely had by all and thanks again to all the guys and gals at Cheese Store of Beverly Hills for being such great friends to me and Rinascimento Wine Company.

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