pinot nero

When I think of wine made from the Pinot Noir grape, the regions of Burgundy in France, New Zealand’s South Island, Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and California’s Sta Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County come to mind. So I was quite surprised to learn that the third largest region (not country) in the world planted for Pinot Noir production is Oltrepò Pavese! Located in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, Oltrepò Pavese sits on the 45th parallel, the same place on Earth where we find the Willamette Valley, Burgundy, and Marlborough. 

In Italy, Pinot Noir is called Pinot Nero– the black Pinot for how dark the skins are in contrast with Pinot Grigio which range in color from pale grey to pale pink or Pinot Bianco with white grapes. There is evidence that wine grape vines thrived in northern Italy in ancient times producing exceptional wines (Strabo 60 BC.-20 A.D. passed through Oltrepò and wrote about “a good wine, welcoming people and very large wooden  barrels”). Pinot Noir/Nero is documented in the region from the 1800s, and today is 60% of the region’s production. This has come at a cost to local grapes: in 1884 the Oltrepò Pavese grew  225 native vines and now only 10 are widespread.

Shaped like a cluster of grapes with four valleys and four regions, Oltrepò connects the Mediterranean climate of next door Liguria to the continental climate of the Po Valley to the east. 

pinot nero

WINE: Pinot Nero Dell’Oltrepo Pavese

• 2018 Corti Family Estate “Route 66” Pinot Nero Dell’Oltrepo Pavese

• 2017 CONTE VISTARINO “Pernice” Pinot Nero Dell’Oltrepo Pavese

pinot nero

MENU: Featuring Taleggio Cheese

We knew that mushrooms paired well with Pinot Noir but when I learned that Talegio cheese is from the region, and found a bunch of recipes on the Taleggio website, we decided to feature it in our menu. Taleggio cheese is made from cow’s milk, and is slightly sweet with pleasant earthy, aromas and a finish of truffle. A specialty item imported from Italy, you can find at your favorite cheesemonger. Another dish we love is mushroom lasagna using Taleggio cheese, and it pairs well with Pinot Nero as well. Read more about Taleggio at the consortium’s website.

Taleggio triangle puff pastry with pear

endive with taleggio

spinach taleggio erbazzone in puff pastry

erbazzone and polenta

• Oven Polenta with Roasted Mushrooms and Thyme

And because although we might try, we do not live on cheese alone, and we love mushrooms with Pinot Noir, we tried this dish. Sue had her doubts about how this would turn out as she’s been disappointed in “stir free” oven cooked polenta, but this one was a winner! I think the secret was the Dutch Oven. We used basic mushrooms but next time we’d like to feature more special ones, like Trumpet mushrooms, especially this time of year when they are in season. With our instant pot down, this was a great alternative. 

Sue of course added a small knob of Taleggio cheese to the hot polenta! 

 

Route 66 Pinot Noir

2018 Corti Family Estate “Route 66” Pinot Nero Dell’Oltrepo Pavese
ABV 13%
SRP under $20 (?)
sample for my review

• “Get your motor running” with this wine!

Color: Ruby with a garnet rim, medium density, looks like a Pinot!

Aroma: Smells so nice with truffles, forest floor, raspberry, cherry, sandalwood, amber to offer a very lovely complex nose. Even going back to the nose throughout the evening it continues to invite us back.

Palate: Minerals and fruit with a light body. Cherry cola and Dr. Pepper makes it a very easy sipping wine. Sue usually has to be in the mood for Pinot Noir, but she really enjoyed this wine. 

Pairing: This would be a great pizza wine. Fine with the arugula taleggio stuffing in endive, but surprisingly fantastic with the honey walnut taleggio. Very nice with the puff pastry pear taleggio triangles. Just a piece of arugula on the palate and this wine is so much fun. The wine brings out creamy richness in the polenta. The combination of the acidity in the wine and the base of the polenta is fantastic and then when you go back to the wine it is so fruity and bright. The herbal quality of the thyme responds nicely. This is a perfect pairing. The spinach in the “Erbazzone” was so flavorful with the wine. 

We both agreed that this would be a great restaurant wine.

Pino nero

2017 CONTE VISTARINO “Pernice” Pinot Nero Dell’Oltrepo Pavese
ABV 14%
SRP around $20 (?)
sample for my review

• This winery was the first to plant Pinot Nero in  Oltrepo’ in the 1800s.  

Color: Ruby with a pale pink rim. It looks very youthful in the glass. Medium plus density. 

Aroma: We were entranced by all the herbs on the nose with mint, pennyroyal, sage, thyme, lavender, and tarragon. 

Palate: Dry chalk at the tip of the tongue, pine resin, lots of acidity, oak forward. For Sue she needed food to enjoy this wine. She felt it needed rich food to balance out the acidity. 

Pairing: The taleggio-pear puff pastry is fantastic with this wine with the pear bringing out the lovely Pinot Noir fruit. What a great pairing for brunch!  Sue felt that the arugula in the tallegio stuffed endive fought with the fruit in the wine. The walnut honey endive is a beautiful compliment to the wine. It is not sweet and an unexpected pleasure. OMG our spinach tromboli was so perfect with the wine. It loved the richness of the bacon and the bright spinach notes combined with the creamy richness of the Telagio. For Marshall it was all about the polenta for the evening.  The polenta with the wine was absolutely fantastic. This wine is so much more pleasurable with food as we anticipated when we first tasted it. The wine also really loves the menu. Earthy richness and this wine go so very well together. The wine brings forth a tartness to this very rich meal. 

pinot nero pairings

You’re invited to learn more about the wines of Oltrepò Pavese from these writers in our twitter chat at 8am Pacific Sat. 2/5/22 and to check out our articles linked to below:

• Payal of Keep the Peas shares Just Now Discovering Oltrepò Pavese.
• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla adds Second Pours of Oltrepò Pavese Wines with BraisedShort Ribs and Puff Pastry.
• Linda from My Full Wine Glass brings Flying Under the Radar with an Oltrepò Pavese Sparkling Rosé.
• Terri from Our Good Life dishes about Stone Crabs with Oltrepò Pavese.
• Martin from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog showcases A Taste Of The Unsung Wines of Oltrepò Pavese.
• Deanna from Wineivore posts Wine for the Priest! from Oltrepo Pavese, Italy.
• Jeff from Food Wine Click! waxes about the Surprising Wines of Oltrepò Pavese.
• Rupal from Syrah Queen posts Oltrepò Pavese Wines -One of Italy’s Best Kept Secret.
• Here on Wine Predator we showcase 2 Pinot Nero from Oltrepò Pavese with Polenta, Taleggio.
• David from Cooking Chat reflects on Tasting and Pairing with Oltrepo’ PaveseWines.
• Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm checks out Cheesy Vegetable Lasagna paired with Oltrepo Pavese Wine.
• Liz from What’s In that Bottle suggests we Check Out ‘the Other Side of the Pó’ for Tasty Italian Wines.
• Jennifer from Vino Travels adds Pinot Nero in Abundance in the Oltrepò Pavese.
• Lisa from The Wine Chef writes Off The Beaten Path: Oltrepò Pavese, A Wine Region to Know About.
• Host Susannah from Avvinare writes about Wine Treasures To Be Found in Oltrepò Pavese.

Twitter chat conversation prompts: