http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/21/dining/wine-school-assignment-oregon-pinot-noir.html 2016-09-15 22:58:32 Your Next Lesson: Oregon Pinot Noir Many places outside of Burgundy aspire to make great pinot noir. The Willamette Valley succeeds. === After a string of summery rosés and whites, it’s time to get back to red wine. Not that I am a seasonal stickler. I drink plenty of whites in cold weather and reds in warm. But the onset of autumn always makes me crave a red, so next up will be pinot noir from Oregon. In its classic Burgundian form, pinot noir epitomizes so much that wine lovers prize. It is a grape capable of grace, finesse and complexity, yet powerful enough to age for decades, with an unsurpassed ability among reds to express the intricate nuances of a particular place. Many other wine regions around the world have staked their claims as suitable homes for pinot noir. Not all have been consistently successful, but the Willamette Valley of Oregon, in its roughly 50-year history as a wine region, has proved to be one of the best. I’ve enjoyed pinot noirs from the Sonoma Coast, the Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Barbara, all in California, from South Africa and New Zealand, New York and As with most pinot noir wines, the Willamette Valley versions are not cheap. The best bottles, expressing the narrowest slices of terroir, rise toward $100, not remotely Burgundy level but beyond where we like to go in Montinore Estate Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2014, $20 Maysara McMinnville Pinot Noir 3 Degrees 2014, $25 Big Table Farm Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2014, $45 Fear not if you can’t find these. Many excellent small producers work in the Willamette, and you can just as easily select good pinot noirs from the Eyrie Vineyards, Soter Vineyards, Domaine Drouhin Oregon, Penner-Ash, Ponzi Vineyards, Beaux Frères, Adelsheim Vineyard, Division, Bow & Arrow, Bergström, Brick House and many others. As is true with all good pinot noir wines, you want to serve these in good glasses. They don’t need to be expensive, but the bowl ought to be tall enough that you can safely swirl the wine, and preferably slope it in toward the rim to channel aromas upward. Pinot noirs are nothing if not aromatic. What to eat? Trust me when I say simpler is better. A I do have something to say about temperature. As with most reds, these will be best a little cooler than room temperature. Set your thermometer to about 60 degrees, and you will be all set.