World of Pinot Noir

World of Pinot Noir: A Conference for Pinot Connoisseurs

For pinot noir lovers there is a must-do event that celebrates the grape and the culture surrounding it: World of Pinot Noir. This event brings growers, winemakers, and lovers of the pinot noir grape together to celebrate this varietal in style. Events like this are great opportunities to be among people with the same interest and passion, and the event as a whole offers many informational seminars as well.

Background

World of Pinot Noir is two days of “education, tastings and camaraderie” as it states on their website. Although that statement is simply put, it’s actually fairly accurate. People with the same passion for the grape get together to share in that passion; it’s almost a bonding experience. Zinfandel lovers have ZAP, and pinot noir lovers have World of Pinot Noir. The event is separated into tastings, seminars, and field trips to vineyards and/or wineries, offering everyone different events depending on your interests. As always, this event occurs in Shell Beach—about a 15 minute drive from San Luis Obispo.

Seminars

The two seminars this year were very different from each other. One offered participants a look into bio-dynamic farming and what that entailed. The second part of the seminar had food and wine pairings discussed by a Master Sommelier (Bobby Stuckey of the famed French Laundry) for lunch. Everyone had the opportunity to visit vineyards that were farmed bio-dynamically and were able to ask questions of the vineyard manager there. The second seminar offered everyone a look into the Bien Nacido vineyard from the Central Coast area of California, a famous location for great pinot noir. Part of that seminar was also a tasting of Bien Nacido wines also paired with lunch.

Pinot Noir Tastings

The second part of the conference was about tasting—let’s face it, if you go to a conference about pinot, you want to taste pinot, not just talk about it. And boy, do they taste. Friday and Saturday offers participants the chance to taste wines from 45-50 different pinot noir producers from the country (and a few outside the country). Friday’s tasting offers different producers than Saturday’s, so many people sign up for both. Given that much wine to taste, it’s a good idea to use one of the handy spit cups so you can stand at the end of the day and be able to evaluate the wines. This is key, because after the tastings on both days there is a gala dinner event: Friday dinner is at the Cliff’s Resort where the seminars take place, and the other one Saturday is at Au Bon Climat Winery, about 30 minutes away.

Featured Tasting

Every year since the beginning of this event there has been a Featured Tasting, which basically is a producer from Burgundy, France that brings their wines over to share and discuss in a group panel environment. These producers are often high-end burgundy wineries, and their winemakers bring their best of the best wines to share. So for Burgundy, France that would be Grand Cru wines—highly sought after and as well as highly priced. The first year of WOPN (World of Pinot Noir)featured the producer Domaine de la Romanee Conti, arguably the most sought after pinot noir in the world. Other years featured Comte de Vogue, Roumier, and this year Maison Louis Jadot. It’s a rare opportunity to taste these fine burgundies with professionals such as Master Sommeliers and winemakers to guide you.

Gala Dinner

The gala dinner on Friday held at the Cliff’s hotel is the welcome dinner. Producers from every pinot noir house in the state bring their wines to share, and you can frequently find gems sitting at every table. I walked around towards the end of the dinner to see what other tables had and somebody poured a 1996 Rochioli East Block in my glass like it was water…and the same things were happening at every other table. Throughout the entire night, the wine service was provided by sommeliers and Master Sommeliers from the best restaurants in the country: truly a treat.

Grand Dinner

Saturday’s grand dinner is even better, if you can imagine that. A bus takes all participants to the winery from the hotel, and everyone is greeted with a glass of some champagne poured from a 9 liter bottle. Everyone brings their own wines to share, and tables are hosted by different wineries who usually bring magnums of some past vintage. Throughout the winery, chefs from some of the best restaurants are serving food so you can walk around and sample everything. This year one of the restaurants brought pounds and pounds of black truffles that they were shaving over grilled squab. It was spectacular. The best part of the evening comes when the winery host, Jim Clendenen from Au Bon Climat, has a table with large sized bottles of some of the best white and red burgundies produced. He opens them and shares them with everyone: we’re talking multiple large-bottle formats of the best wine Burgundy has to offer. This year, one of the bottles that stood out was a 1966 Domaine de la Romanee Conti, Romanee Conti. Retailing for $5000 a bottle, it was a special treat to say the least. I would estimate the total value of the bottles consumed that night to be around $100,000+, but that is really an estimate. The evening finishes with dancing and people walking around sharing their special pinot noir with everyone else.

Ready for Next Year

The event ends with a farewell breakfast where people can reminisce about the weekend, share their favorite experiences and revel in what they learned, ready to sign up again for the next year. I was one of those people this year: it was my first time to attend, but definitely not the last. The event is not to be missed if you are a fan of pinot noir, but it is not for the faint of heart. Each seminar/tasting is costly, but given the information shared and wines brought to taste, it is a worthwhile experience. Check the website www.wopn.com for more information on the event for 2007. See you there!

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