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Gary Pisoni; In his own words, except those better left unprinted
Gary Pisoni
Gary Pisoni fielded my questions during a lively lunch and tasting at Café du Frain on Harbour Island in Tampa last month. Btw, the café has undergone a renaissance with the addition of some top Mise en Place veterans. My favorite plate: poached egg on kobe tartar. (Don’t even think corned beef hash).
Back to Gary:
Q. What’s the best way to drink pinot noir?
With meat, fish and in the bathtub.
Q. What other areas can grow great pinot, Oregon, Carneros, New Zealand?
New Zealand, I really like New Zealand.
Q. What does California have over Burgundy?
Their soil is old. They’ve been growing grapes in the same place for hundreds of years.
Q. Any other grapes likely to make it big in your part of the coast?
I like riesling, (Otherwise) it’s pinot noir and a little bit of syrah.
Q. what’s your advantage?
We’re farmers. Our family still has 1000 acres. So many (other wineries) are not farmers. They haven‘t even grown flowers. Once you grown vegetabes grapes are easier.
Q. How long will your pinots last?
The ’03 has barely evolved. It will go 15 years.
Click here to see wines by Pisoni
Pisoni: Civilized Pinot Noir from the wild man of Santa Lucia
If you can’t see a revival of Hair, at least meet Gary Pisoni, with a Yippie’s headful of ringlets and an electric smile. He’s still rambunctious, bawdy, outspoken AND meticulous about pinot noir.
What else can you say about a guy who climbed over the fences one night after pruning at La Tache, Domaine Romanee Conti, collected the cuttings, went back to his room, snipped off the buds, and smuggled them out of the country in his briefs.
When customs questioned the bulge, he says he responded “I‘m Italian. Wanna check?”
Today sniffer dogs and full-body scans could have checked, but those buds went on to start the most prestigious pinot vineyards in the Central Coast, sought out by Peter Michael, Siduri, Roar, Patz & Hall, and Testarossa. He can’t call them DRC clones but cracks “’They can’t call theirs Pisoni clones.”
2009 Rose of Pinot Noir Juicy Lucy $18.99
If wine is made in the vineyard, it’s Pinsoni cultivation as well as the clones. Crews go through ten or twelve times pulling leaves. It produces less than 2.5 tons of grapes per acre and once crushed, the juice is bled to concentrate the flavor more.
The result: striking, intense flavors and very approachable — but no softie.
The 2008 Lucia from Garys Vineyard, which is actually two Garys, Pisoni and Farrell ($47.99) is lush and rich with fruit, a strong spine of acidity, and most distinguished by its spice of pepper clove and sandalwood.
Burgundy’s no match at the price and consistency year-on and year-out. However all is not classic pinot noir. That first press bled in the saignee process is a grand rose called Lucy ($18.99), which is remarkably broad not thin or tart. It’s full of peaches, citrus and light dusting of spice. With a silky feel and refreshing minerality. So good, you won’t call it rosé.
The 2008 Pisoni Chardonnay ($37.99) doesn’t get as much attention as the pinots but it should. Lots of juicy tropical flavors with cream and caramel, complex and rich enough to be a grand cru.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler