It is no secret that as time passes, wine ages in the bottle.  If you include proper cellaring, the wine will age properly and evolve into something a bit different than what you originally purchased and tasted in the tasting room.   Frequently, the average wine connoisseur tucks away his or her cherished bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon to age in the cellar but in reality, any bottle of red wine will age (although estimated peak times of aging are different per varietal and similarly, depending on where the grape was grown and the quality of the wine making).   Finally, if you have several bottles of a certain vintage, you can visit the varietal during various stages of its aging and follow the vintage on its journey.

This week the choice is to revisit a red wine that I featured during the first year of the web site’s existence.  The varietal of choice is also Pinot Noir because it is not often that I would be revisiting a vintage of Pinot Noir in an article three years after the original review.  In the sense of fair disclosure, the wine featured this week is no longer available for purchase and the current released vintage (2010) is presently sold out at the winery in question.  However, this particular winery’s wine is special enough that it merits featuring again and similarly, is a helpful nudge to the consumer to remember to visit the winery in question in the future to find the next available vintage.  Without further ado, please welcome back Laird Family Estate Winery’s (“Laird”) 2007 Ghost Ranch Pinot Noir (“Ghost Ranch Pinot Noir”).

Pinot Noir has long captivated the palates of wine drinkers and simultaneously eluded many a California wine maker for years.  It is notoriously finicky about where it likes to grow and under what conditions.   However, when a vintner finds a vineyard and its microclimate that are conducive to growing Pinot Noir grapes, a fantastic wine is on the horizon and one that can likely age well.  

Laird has long been touted as owning the most land in Napa County.  Similarly they own a special vineyard in Sonoma County in the Carneros American Viticultural Area (“AVA”) known as the Ghost Ranch Vineyard.   This vineyard is special for its fruit and those who work there have rumored to have seen people near the rows by the creek who disappear when approached (hence the name “Ghost Ranch”).  For those who are true Pinot Noir fans, Laird’s Ghost Ranch Pinot Noir consists of only Pinot Noir grapes.   The fruit from this vineyard stands for itself.   Pouring into the glass with a beautiful deep red velvet color, the 2007 vintage today is loaded with rich chewy candied cherries, soft plum and pomegranate ribbons, cinnamon, earthy notes and finely grounded tannins.  With one sip, it is clear that this wine is “roll-eyes-into-the-back-of-the-head good” as the wine elegantly and smoothly coasts across the palate.  This vintage is also a terrific example of the outstanding caliber of 2007 fruit:  it ages extremely well, still delivering fruit and will be one of the best vintages to age out of Northern California for years to come.

One of my favorite ways to pair Pinot Noir is with salmon.   Salmon is naturally fatty and while Pinot Noir is often lighter-bodied than other red wines, it still has enough tannins to pair perfectly with salmon.  It does not overwhelm the salmon but similarly its tannins equalize the fatty nature of the fish.  This week’s menu holds:

1)      Cedar Wrapped Salmon;

2)     Green Beans Almondine; and

3)     Roasted Herb Red Potatoes and Caramelized Leeks.

A terrific way to prepare salmon when temperatures fall is baked while wrapped in cedar paper.  Cedar paper will impart a lovely flavor to the salmon that will coax out the barrel-related aromas in the wine that you are pairing.  Since leeks are used, the green stems can be used to tie the cedar paper around the fish.

To accentuate the earthy notes in the wine, almonds are tossed in melted butter and roasted to be added to green beans and similarly red potatoes are roasted with rosemary, sea salt and cracked black pepper.

Leeks have a delicious soft, sweet flavor when slowly caramelized and are a fantastic vegetable to pair with Pinot Noir.

The wine, when taken together with this meal, pairs effortlessly.   Similarly, since the wine had been given a chance to age a bit more in the bottle, it took a very nice meal to an instant level of decadence.  This is a perfect example of how a delicious meal that is restaurant worthy is straight-forward enough to execute in the home kitchen.  It can take an ordinary weeknight and make it something special.  Cheers!