Today was leftover day, leftover prime rib, baked potatoes and pumpkin pie for dessert. Today though for the wine I chose a Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, Oregon, one of the bottles I received from my coworkers. I was interested to compare the Pinot and Prime Rib to the Cab and Prime Rib combination we had last night.

The wine, Willamette Valley Vineyards, Estate Pinot Noir, 2013 vintage had an alcohol content of 13.4%. The wine was a lighter color of red in the glass, and more translucent. The wine smelled of plums and berries with a hint of alcohol. The wine was dry and light as I swirled it around. I could taste blackberries and cherries as I swished and swallowed the wine.

One thing I found very interesting on the bottle was a technical section on the label. There was a description of the grape clones, the soil type, barrel regimen, how many barrels produced, harvest dates, brix at harvest and peak drinkability dates. That was the first time I had seen all of this information on a wine label before. I guess I need to up my standards a bit more.

The leftover Prime Rib and the Pinot Noir combination worked okay, I think the bigger heavier Cabernet was a better pairing, but the Pinot Noir was tasty enough that it didn’t matter that it wasn’t “The Perfect Pairing”. The wine was a very nice red wine, one that I think would go very well with turkey, chicken and pizza. Yes, pizza.