Smuggling Pinot
Written By: Dylan York on Tue, Aug 5th 2008
This summer my girlfriend was fortunate enough to leave the island for a month to visit her family in California while I remained in Grenada to finish a consulting project. The bonus to all of this was that this was the perfect opportunity to restock on all the things that we could not buy here in Grenada. Needless to say, the poor girl left here with three empty suitcases that would soon return with all the goodies we needed to keep us sane for the next six months. While living in Washington DC, we both were accustomed to a diet of mostly Vietnamese, Thai, and Ethiopian Cuisine which we mostly prepared at home since all of the ingredients to do so were readily available in the city. Here we are lucky if we can find fish sauce and the "Siracha" that the supermarket here carries taste like hoisin ketchup. So when there is an opportunity to bring back ingredients to cook with we load up. And of course there is the wine issue. I have not drank a bottle of good California Pinot in over 6 months and I was going &$*#ing crazy. The opportunity to bring back a load of supplies was the most important mission of the year, so every inch and pound had to count. It was time to smuggle in some wine.
On the trip back to Grenada Murphy's law showed its dirty little face and all of the luggage was lost somewhere between Chicago, Washington D.C., Peurto Rico and Grenada. By this time I had been informed that the two oversized suitcases contained 9 bottles of wine, two of which were a bottle of 2004 Muira Gary's Vineyard Pinot and a bottle of 2006 Martin Alfaro Gary's Vineyard Pinot. My heart dropped to the floor and immediately the image of our suitcases with a trail of sweet black cherry scented liquid leaking from behind popped into my head. If customs in Grenada opened the suitcase all would be lost and there is no telling what they would charge me on duties. Luckily my girl is quite the packer and bubble wrap is the best thing ever invented. All the bottles were intact and it was time to celebrate.
I first opened the 2006 Martin Alfaro GV Pinot and allowed it to breathe for thirty minutes. The wine was a bright ruby color with a pronounced aroma of red cherry and vanilla. The acidity was high at first but after it sat for a bit the wine became very balanced. On the palate the Pinot was very clean with bright red fruits, mineral, and dried mushroom flavors. This was one of those Pinots that go down too easy and you wish you had one more bottle. Since that was it for that one it was time to move on.
I knew we were going to drink both pinots so I popped the 2004 Muira GV Pinot when we were almost done with the Alfaro. This was the perfect follow up. Both wines are from Gary's Vineyard, but the difference was amazing. First of all, the vintage was two years older and the wine had really developed. The color was dark ruby and opaque, the aromas were denser with rich black fruits. On the palate the wine was silky and rich with integrated wood tannins, plum, black cherry, and stones. This is one of the best California Pinots I have ever had!! I am not kidding this wine was so delicious that we drank it over the course of an hour and a half and savored every drop. If you come across this wine on a wine list or at a shop, buy it! Like most of my favorite wines, the production for Muira is very small and I never have found more than 3 to 4 bottles at one time. If you are a Pinot lover you have to find this wine. Good luck!
