A pinot noir that exemplifies American ingenuity
This summery screwtop is worth bringing along to your 4th of July plans.
Laetitia “Estate” Pinot Noir San Luis Obispo County, Calif.
$17.99, 14% alcohol
PLCB Item #100027691
Chairman’s Selection – regularly $38 at the winery
The Fourth of July may not be a holiday that one associates with fine wines like this impeccable pinot noir, but it is surely patriotic to raise a glass to celebrate how far the United States has come in its pursuit of vinous happiness. Other nations of the Americas and southern hemisphere can produce some heartbreakingly beautiful wines at times, but American vintners make the clearest and most consistent rivals tothe French classics that have dominated the wine world for almost a millennium. In this, we can find echoes of the French influence on our founding fathers and on the unique democracy they christened in Philadelphia 248 years ago today.
Laetitia’s estate vineyards lie only 4 miles from the Pacific in the Arroyo Grande Valley north of Santa Barbara, and have a fascinating Franco-American backstory of their own. The property was first planted to pinot noir and chardonnay in the late ‘80s by French viticulturalists from Champagne who aimed to make world-class sparkling wines. The attraction of California was not simply to supply the booming American market; they sought a more reliable combination of climate and terrain and more freedom in winemaking than were available on their frigid and hyper-regulated home turf. The winery ended up back in American hands by the turn of the 21st century. Laetitia still produces stunning sparkling wines, but is now better known for the brilliance of its pinot noirs and Chardonnays.
Behind this unassuming label and quality-minded screw top, you’ll find a dry mid-weight red wine that stakes out a lovely balance between the earthy austerity of French burgundies and the dessert-like decadence that plagues so many California pinot noirs, leaving them outmatched as food partners.
Here, we can savor a bright thread of red raspberry fruit filigreed with scents of sautéed wild mushrooms and a sexy gloss of new French oak. Wines like this one give us a taste of American ingenuity that does not discard the lessons of the past, but rather applies them in new ways that can lead us into the future.
Also available at WineWorks in Marlton, $26.98, wineworksonline.com.