August 18th marked the 2nd annual Pinot Noir Day – also known as the Pinot Noir Smackdown.
Huh?
If you pay any attention to the online wine community, you’ve likely noticed that just about every mainstream grape has its own day. This event was created by one of my favorite online wine community peeps, Ed Thralls of Wine Tonite. What makes Pinot Noir Day special is the contest competition that has not only caused a stir throughout the country, but is gaining recognition from the entire world. Social media brings us closer together – social media with wine brings us closer together than anyone ever thought possible.What’s great is how many wineries, individuals and venues held specialized events on this day featuring specific bottles of Pinot or just an all-out party of Pinot. A delicious Pinot Noir Partay.
What that means is the entire online wine community is expected to drink Pinot Noir like it’s their job on this day and Tweet about it using specified hash tags per the region of wine they are drinking from – i.e. OR = Oregon. The country/region with the most tweets is declared the winner.
Last year I opted for something Austrian, but this year I opted for a bottle from Oregon. Underwood Cellars Pinot Noir to be exact. The grapes in this wine are sourced from throughout the state, but it is representative of what I think good Pinot should be – and with a $15 price tag, it was really just what a night spent Tweeting with friends in front of the newest episode of Jersey Shore needed.
This old-world styled Pinot is full of woodiness, smoke and spice with a healthy dose of cherries and strawberries. Not too complicated, but with enough complexity to keep us interested.
I picked this bottle up from a little wine shop in Chelsea, but I also purchased it once before from the local Best Cellars. In short, it’s readily available in the NY area and worth every penny.
So which region won this year’s #PinotSmackDown? To be honest, I can’t be sure I’m reading this correctly, but I think it was NZ followed by OR and CA… of course any insight would be appreciated.
At the end of the day, I think the reason this event is so popular is because so many individuals have a great opportunity to share their favorite wines with others and connect with those who feel the same. At the end of the day, it’s just one gigantic Pinot Noir lovefest.
So what about you, what’s your favorite?
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