Wine Review - The Naked Grape Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is a varietal wine.  It has a profound fruity flavor and little acidity. A medium bodied wine, garnet in color - especially when young. The color and flavor change in Pinot Noir as it ages.  Kind of like how we ladies change with age...for the better of course! It tends to take on a more vegetal aroma.      

The grapes are grown throughout the world in places with cooler climates, like France, New Zealand, and the coastal states of California and Oregon.  It is also the leading variety used in making sparkling wine and champagne.

Because Pinot Noir grapes are thin skinned and very delicate, (like myself) the wine produced is not as intense in color as other red wines.  The color will become more vivid, though, as the wine ages.

In order to receive the best aroma from a Pinot Noir, it should be served in a glass with a large bowl and tapered top.  It should also be chilled to between 55 and 60 degrees.  If you do not have a wine chiller, you can accomplish this by placing it in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.  Wine is a lot like women...treat us right and we will treat you right! 

We selected The Naked Grape Pinot Noir to try. The color didn't appear to be as light as I assumed a Pinot Noir would be.  It was similar to a plum color. The aroma was a little difficult for us to determine.  We considered it to be two dimensional, and we did determine that it had a black cherry aroma, but we couldn't determine the other aroma.  For that I had to refer to the bottle. Needless to say, I felt silly, because it was right on the front label! Blueberry. Once we knew that, it was obvious. Hopefully, the next time we try a wine that has blueberry flavor we will recognize it.  If not, we will simply drink more of it until we figure it out!

The Naked Grape Pinot Noir is light on the palate, has medium dryness, and a slightly tart aftertaste.  It would be paired well with creamy pasta, and buttery seafood dishes. Appetizers I would serve it with are creamy cheeses, salty olives (like kalamata olives), and pastrami (or other salty meats).  

I wouldn't consider Pinot Noir a sipping wine, but I would try it again paired with the right dish.

On a side note, the wines that are reviewed on this blog are reasonably priced, under $20. For another red wine that is definitely worth a try see this post.