Top Tipples with Alan Irving
Last updated 20:50, Thursday, 12 June 2008
Pinot noir from the States worth crowing about
WHEN I was in New York last year I tasted an eye-catching restaurant wine which I never ever thought I’d see again, much to my regret.
But this wonderfully seductive red wine is now in Whitehaven under the name of Rex Goliath (after what was reputedly the biggest cockerel in the world, a 47-pounder which became a celebrity at The Texas Circus in the early 20th century).
Today his name lives on at the Rex (HRH) Goliath winery in California. The winery was set up in 2002 amid what’s called the “free range” splendour of Monterey County and the Central Coast of California.”
There’s a wide range of reds and whites and among the pick is the one I tasted, a pinot noir. Regular readers will know this is my favourite of all grapes, usually from its spiritual home in Burgundy such as Gevry Chambertin and Nuits St George but there are exceptions to the general rule, especially when it comes down to price.
The Rex Goliath pinot is just such an exception. It won the gold medal at the San Francisco international wine competition in 2006. It was described by the judges as “a knockout”.
West Cumbria’s only independent wine merchant, Richardson & Sons on Whitehaven’s Lowther Street, has become the UK’s sole distributor. Quite a business coup in itself, but better still for lovers of good wine without denting the pocket.
There’s also a choice: you can also get what is still the world’s most popular white wine, Rex Goliath’s chardonnay, no doubt is also worth crowing about.
But for my palate the pinot noir has to take precedence. Fine pinot noir has finesse and elegance, a velvety texture which fills the mouth with raspberry and other red berry flavours. This Rex Goliath doesn’t fail. Many people say that the wine they drank on holiday is either not the same when they get back home or they can’t even get it, so here’s an exception.
Richardson & Sons have both the pinot and the chardonnay. You might think £8-plus is expensive, but it isn’t for wine of this quality.
A look on the Rex Goliath website will tell you that the pinot noir is sold out at the winery itself. Once you’ve drunk it you may well wish to keep the bottle to grace the kitchen as the label bears the artwork from the original poster replica of the much-admired Rex.
Pinot noir needs not just sun but a fair amount of rain at the right times, so it is notoriously difficult to grow outside burgundy but I have to say they’re making a good fist of it in The New World.
My other recommendations: Frensco (Tesco) and Cono Sur (Morrisons), both from Chile, along with one I’ve just enjoyed from the Marlborough region of New Zealand – £3 off in Tesco.
