Battle of the Pinots

France

vs.

Germany

Now, if this were the World Cup of Soccer instead of Wine, France and Germany would be a real hum-dinger of a first round game. I'm not so sure that the same level of competitiveness exists in the vineyard when it comes to red wine though. In fact, I wasn't even sure that there was any German red wine available in the Vancouver market.

Lo and behold, one of the best-known (if not entirely most-loved) brands from years past offers up a German red just for the occasion. Does the wizardry that is German engineering and Riesling carry on across the dancefloor for its reds? That is our question for today.

Not to give away the answer too early - but, no.

496. 2007 Black Tower Dornfelder Pinot Noir (Germany)

497. 2006 Louis Latour Pinot Noir (AOC Bourgogne - France)

There weren't any real surprises coming out of this taste off. Although both wines were Pinot Noirs, neither wine was from a higher quality appellation. The Black Tower was simply German (Red Wine) and, while it was labeled a Qualitatswein from Pfalz, at $12, it wasn't going to pretend to be a quality German Pinot. As mentioned though, I considered myself "lucky" to have found a bottle so that Germany could even enter the competition.

Similarly, the Latour was a simple Vin de Bourgogne which basically means that the grapes can come from anywhere in Burgundy. It's not going to rival any of the high end Pinots that cause grown soccer players to weep in joy.

However, there wasn't a whole lot of decision making needed for our choice of a winner. The Black Tower wasn't terrible, but we found it to be more on the lines of glorified pop than being comparable to a fine wine. Not that the Latour was a wine that we would run back to the liquor store to buy again. We've actually had a bottle of the 2005 vintage (#79) and I think it went over a tad better than this bottle did.

Unlike on the soccer field, beating Germany tonight probably doesn't mean a whole lot. Hopefully, the next French wine we line up will have a little more fight in it. France goes up against Argentina next and another wine like this likely won't score nearly enough.

Score it 1-0 for the French. Hardly a thriller of a match.