Pinot Noir: California vs. Oregon

Oregonians famously don’t want you to move there, but they don’t mind a visit — unless you’re Californian. Then don’t bother, please, and thank you. Regional dislikes are nothing new: Connecticut people loathe New Yorkers (especially those behind the wheel); Texans have legions of detractors across the South; and Wisconsin residents are dismissed as cheese heads by those in Illinois.

Most of this is mere chaff — something to have fun with. But the bad blood between Oregon and California has always struck me as something a little deeper, especially when it comes to wine.

California used to be the undisputed American star in the world of wine. But, increasingly, Oregon has been stealing the limelight, to the Golden State’s sometimes obvious chagrin.

This fact was driven home at a big wine tasting conducted at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California last year. The only Oregon winery there was Sokol Blosser, at a table at the far end of the aquarium behind a big pillar. There, if you got that far, was winery co-founder Susan Sokol Blosser, winemaker Russ Rosner and a friendly octopus patiently waiting for visitors.

Sokol Blosser’s placement was probably just luck-of-the-draw coincidence, but it did provide one of those aha moments that you remember. Using two social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter, I recently asked who made the better pinot noir: Oregon or California? And, if California, Sonoma’s Russian River Valley or the Central Coast?

The replies were sharply split and decisive. Some of the partisanship was expected, coming from public relations pros and winery owners. But others farther afield, either geographically or vocationally, also weighed in.

“Given my druthers, Oregon,” said Richard Kamins, host of a radio talk show in Middletown, Conn., and a former wine store owner. “Better climate and soil conditions. Though, Santa Barbara’s Au Bon Climat makes good pinots.”

There was a split opinion at the Hilton Austin in Texas. Joe Bolash, the hotel’s resident manager, is “partial to the Russian River Valley with its propensity for producing full, high tone pinots that feature red berry and lots of structure.” Jason Grant, general manager of the hotel’s Finn & Porter restaurant, likes Oregon, especially the Dundee Hills region, for pinots with “softer tannins and overall roundness, femininity and a long true finish.”

And Carolyn Jung, who writes the FoodGal.com blog in Santa Clara, Calif., admitted, “I have to say I’m partial to Oregon pinots. And I live in California! Is that sacrilege?”

Might just be. But give her a dispensation for honesty.

And the winner is … California

Merry Edwards made her considerable reputation on distinctive pinot noir wines from California’s Russian River Valley, so it seems right that one of her wines came in first in a blind tasting of California and Oregon pinots. Right behind her, though, came two of the Oregonians: Sokol Blosser, one of Willamette Valley’s pioneer wineries, and ForeFront, a new venture by the Crimson Wine Group.

In general, the Oregon pinots were lighter in color, fruitier in the nose and cleaner on the palate than the Californians, which were dark, smelled more like hay and mushrooms and had more powerful fruit.

The California-Oregon smackdown presented here won’t change any minds, especially because only three Oregon pinots were put up against three from the Russian River Valley. Yet this sort of comparative tasting is something you can do at home. Shake up old preconceptions and assumptions whenever you can.

We could not publish this article without laying claim to some of our own Pinot Noir favorites straight from Cali and Oregon.

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