Pinot Noir from Lioco, Sineann

If you are contemplating purchasing either of the offerings reviewed in this posting, you should first ask yourself a question.

When am I going to open and drink this wine?

If the answer is: I’m going to buy a bottle, and drink it with dinner tonight or in the near future, and I’m probably not going to get around to opening the bottle until shortly before we start to drink it, you might want to reconsider. These are fairly expensive wines and you could be disappointed.

The wines under consideration are the:

Lioco 2005 “Michaud” Pinot Noir ($35), and the
Sineann 2005 “Schindler Vineyard” Pinot Noir ($40)

These wines represent two very different styles of pinot noir, but they share one thing in common. When first opened, their tannin and their fruit are not well integrated, making consumption something of a challenge. But there is good news. Both wines are very good once the tannin and the fruit resolve into a harmonious combination.

Lioco is a so-called virtual winery in the sense that it owns neither vineyards nor wine-making equipment. Rather, the partners purchase grapes from vineyards considered to be particularly interesting and contract to have the wine made. The Michaud vineyard is located in the Chalone region of California’s Monterey County and is said to have a rather unusual combination of granite and limestone soils.

When the Lioco is consumed soon after being opened – say an hour or two – one tastes slightly spicy, red fruit flavors with an overlay of mild tannin. The body is light to medium in weight. The biggest problem is the finish, which is a little sour. That’s probably because the fruit flavors fade before the tannin leaving a combination of tannin and fairly high acidity. So far, this is not what one is hoping for from a wine costing $35 a bottle.

Before continuing with the Lioco, let’s turn to the other wine under consideration.

Sineann, in a sense another virtual winery, makes a bewildering array of pinot noir wines from grapes grown in various vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. In fact, the winery’s website lists no fewer than 12 pinot offerings from the 2005 vintage, about half of which are priced at around $40 a bottle.

According to Northwest-Wine.com, an Internet retailer, much of the 2005 “Schindler Vineyard” pinot went to the super-trendy Napa Valley restaurant, French Laundry.

I’m curious as to when they plan to offer it to their customers because in my view, it isn’t ready now.

If one opens the Sineann “Schindler Vineyard” pinot (which, by the way, has a rather fancy glass stopper as opposed to a cork) and consumes it soon thereafter, what one experiences is first some rather intense, dark fruit followed shortly thereafter by a rather intense, long tannic finish. Since this wine isn’t as acidic as the Lioco, the finish, while somewhat bitter, isn’t sour. Still, not what one wants for $40.

Well, that was how matters stood at the end of the first evening. At that point, the two bottles, each of which had about two thirds of their contents remaining, were pumped, rubber corked and set aside for another day.

Ah, the wonders of oxygenation!

When these two bottles were reopened a couple days later at another dinner, an amazing transformation had taken place. In both cases, the tannin and the fruit had “come together” very nicely.

The Lioco was still a relatively light bodied wine focused on red fruit flavors, but with some subtle complexity stemming from the integrated tannins. The acidity level remained relatively high, giving the wine a bright, youthful aspect and making it a better wine for consuming with food than on its own. Without food, some consumers might consider it slightly sharp.

In contrast, the Sineann had evolved into a dense, smooth, round wine focused on dark fruit flavors. In short, over the course of two days it had gone from being rather disjointed to quite memorable.

What’s the bottom line? Consumers interested in purchasing these wines need to either cellar them for some period of time – at least a year in the case of the Lioco and probably at least two years with respect to the Sineann – or open the bottles many hours before consumption.

There are other options in the same general price range that are far more “ready to drink” than these two. If you need a relatively light, red-fruit focused wine to accompany salmon or veal, you might consider one of Bethel Height’s various offerings as an alternative to the Lioco. On the other hand, if you are looking for a heavier, dark, round, mouth-filling pinot for current consumption, a Patricia Green “Estate” or Shea “Estate” pinot would probably be a better choice than the Sineann “Schindler Vineyard.”

Because the 2005 Lioco and the Sineann need cellaring or lots of oxygenation, I consider them Worth Considering for the time being although I’m sure that in time, both would warrant placement in the Recommended category.