One thing I learned from my college fraternity days amongst the paddle beatings, toga parties and sport/political dominance is that there are no losers and we are strongest when we stand together, work together and support each other.  I think this was illustrated perfectly over the recent weeks of #PinotSmackdown when the world rallied around Pinot Noir.

Under the guise of a bareknuckled cage fight, the desire to stand atop all others, spitting “my Pinot is better than yours” across the interwebs not only did each individual region band together, but Pinot Noir overall was raised in acknowledgement of its uniqueness across the globe.  Yes, New Zealand definitely “won” by the rules defined for this row but, together as a community of wine lovers of this expressive and sensual grape we developed a tide of adoration, intrigue and knowledge-sharing.  There are no losers in this regard.  The New Zealand fraternity banded together and stood tall and proud against nations much larger in size and for that they should be proud.  I am ready to turn more of my Pinot attentions to NZ and dig a little deeper with some hands-on research.

Having recently re-adopted the state of California and celebrating my one year anniversary of moving to Napa/Sonoma wine country, no doubt I was cheering for Pinots from the Sonoma Coast, Russian River Valley, Carneros, Santa Lucia Highlands, Anderson Valley among many others in the state.  At the Compound residing just east of the Napa River and the Carneros AVA, a handful of friends and wine lovers shared 17 Pinots with us including 2 from Burgundy and 3 from Oregon.  Yes, the rest were from California.  Here were my top picks:

2002 Dom. Taupenot-Merme Morey St. Denis – Nothing but red fruit aromas, light and delicate with just a hint of forest floor.  The red berries are confirmed on the palate, and the weight on the mid-palate stays strong and structure was impressive.  Definitely the WOTN for me.

2008 Holdredge Russian River Valley Bucher Vineyard – First impression is the cloudy, light ruby color in the glass… this wine is unfined and unfiltered allowing all the phenolics developed in the grape to make it from vineyard to glass.  Sure, perhaps I am a tad biased having worked 2010 harvest for Holdredge.  Big black cherries, some baking spices and still a little young with more aggressive tannin than I’d like.  I know for a fact this wine will cellar for 10 years.

2008 Soter Mineral Springs – Don’t get me wrong I still love me some Oregon Pinot ever since our trip to the Willamette Valley in 2008.  This took me back immediately to that trip.  Cranberries and plums on the nose with a bit of cola and clove.  Smooth on the palate with a long finish and hint of spice.

2008 Drew Valenti Vineyard Mendocino Ridge – Floral and cranberries on the nose, smooth and velvety on the palate.  Very well-balanced.  The best combination of fruit and acid of the bunch on the night.  If you haven’t been to Anderson Valley and you love Pinot Noir you are missing out.  There’s a lot of crazy good juice coming out of that region.

My juices are flowing and ready to make Pinot Noir a priority for me once again…

… and everyone eagerly awaits to see who limps out of the carnage to be crowned champion and slip on the coveted belt, screaming to the world, “I have the best Pinot in all the land!”

To my eye, the consensus on the twittersphere is that many enjoyed some great wine and time with friends old and new throughout the day, which was our ultimate goal.  I think we have achieved celebrating this beautiful grape and building community around it online.  It was good to see so many venues from the land of OZ and the Kiwi’s, to Atlanta, Austin, Washington, Oregon, Sonoma and Napa to name a few.  Saw several conversations about the ageability of Pinot Noir which may come as a surprise to many since it is a “lighter” red, but a well balanced and structured (meaning acid) Pinot can make it 5-10 years in many cases.  Here in Napa, we enjoyed a 2002 from Morey St Denis and 2005 from Gevrey-Chambertin which were cases in point.  Several of the 2008 and 2009 New World Pinots from Oregon and Sonoma were still just too young, but still quite tasty.  Another set of tweets that stand out in my mind this foggy (figuratively and literally speaking) morning is the high ranking of a #CHilean Pinot from the Paul’s venue in Atlanta.  Would love to hear more about that from our pal Joe (SuburbanWino).

So, with all the drama and suspense of an American Idol elimination round sending the audience on the edge of their seats to a commercial break, let’s take a look at some of the “results” of the day’s activities…

Official Stats

• 4042 tweets
• 2351 “votes” for favorite regions via 2-letter hashtag
• 946 contributors

Reach & Impressions

Some various reach and impression stats throughout the day (not comprehensive often due to last 1500 tweet max limit by analysis sites unless you pay big $$ for more):

• Reported by @MastermindTB early in the day around 8:30p AUS/NZ time: 3,352,418 impressions, reached  300,000+ people, 1800+ tweets from over 500 contributors (tweetreach.com)
• My report from this morning: 2,653,219 impressions, reached 236,448 people, last 1500 tweets, 368 contributors (tweetreach.com)
• Last 1,000 tweets generated 2,117,424 impressions, reaching an audience of 484,877 followers within the past 24 hours (hashtracking.com)

And now for the results.  It was a much closer race this year, with the top 3 regions being separated by only 23 TWEETS!

You feel that sting?  That’s pride farkin’ with ya!

#NZ    568    24.2%

#OR    549    23.4%

#CA    545    23.2%

The idea for the #PinotNoir Twitter smackdown was hatched over wine and wings in my basement with Joe (@SuburbanWino)  and was later fleshed out further over crawfish and shrimp at the Crawfish Shack on Buford highway.  There’s just something about filling our gullets with food that really gets the creative juices flowing.  Throughout the entire process a lot of jokes were made and many more fun and crazy ideas were discussed.  Of course, we needed a west coast correspondent so we brought in Tamara (@SipWithMe) who was fantastic in moving things forward from her Oregon HQ.  In the end, the Pinot Noir Twitter tasting created a buzz we could not have fathomed and we could not be more happy with the turnout.  Thanks to everyone who participated or followed along.  Without further ado:

Winner of the 2010 #Pinot Noir Twitter Smackdown:  

#WV (Willamette Valley)

Play-by-Play Summary:

• We saw a serious flurry of blows thrown immediately out of the gate as #WV (Willamette Valley) took the early lead and really never looked back
• #NZ (New Zealand) was hanging tough though in a distant second place followed by #GV (Green Valley) after the first 40 minutes of the night
• By the halfway point, however, #RR (Russian River Valley) had swooped into 3rd place followed by #GV and #SLH (Santa Lucia Highlands).  No doubt, the Belle Glos Las Alturas and Hahn submissions were behind the quick rise of Santa Lucia Highlands in the rankings
• #CN (Los Carneros) started making a late surge with 30 minutes to go, but couldn’t muster enough flying elbows to gain any glory
• #RR and #GV were gunning neck and neck for 3rd place — in hind sight, if the regions were aggregated, could #RR have provided more of a challenge to #WV?  No, not really.  #WV stole the show.

Event Stats:

• Total tweets during the 2-hour event:   2,073
• Total unique tweeters during the event: 323
• Tweets per minute: 17.3
• Tweets including a #hashtag region vote: 873 or 42.1%
• Several event sites, including ours, are reporting significant sales generated at the event – would like hear other results if you hosted an event or promoted a special offer as part of the event
• [UPDATED] 2,224 pageviews of the pinotnoir.eventbrite.com invitation

Top 8 Results during Event:

________________________________________________________

July 1 – July 15 #PinotNoir Stats: (incl. 2-hour event)

• Total tweets:   4,145
• Total unique tweeters during the period: 677
• Tweets including a #hashtag region mention: 1,461 or 35.2%

Top 8 Results during July 1 – July 15:

Notables:

• Mentions for #ARG, #FLX and #CdN were great to see and generated some interest from many on the stream
• Others include #Bacon, #Pinotentendre and #wewantthefunk

MANY THANKS TO:

Joe Herrig – SuburbanWino.com

Tamara Belgard – SipWithMe.com

Andrea Robinson – AndreaWine.com

Tower Beer Wine Spirits   

Paul’s Restaurant  

And most importantly  YOU  the participants, the pinotphiles, the wineries and the winemakers.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts and drinking along.

I am happy to announce the winner of our book giveaway of Paul Gregutt’s essential guide to Washington Wines & Wineries is PAM CAUDY!  Please help me in congratulating her on a well-deserved win!

Thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway by commenting here and on Facebook as well as promoting the contest via Twitter and other channels.  This was a lot of fun!  Washington is making some great wine and hopefully this year we can help continue to educate other wine lovers and share in what this state, second only to California in U.S. production, has to offer.

Please be sure to check out this year’s Wine Blogger’s conference to be held in Walla Walla June 25-27, 2010 as well as the scholarship program being offered.

Pam:  Please be sure to reach out to me via my email address which can be obtained via the About Us link at the top of the site so I can get your shipping address.

Cheers!

If you’re like my wife, then you know it’s never too early to plan, especially if it’s for a trip to the wine country somewhere.  As we approach February already, we are still 5 months away from the Wine Blogger’s Conference in Walla Walla, Washington held June 25-27, 2010.  However, it is important to note that if you are a blogger and want to go and haven’t signed up yet, there were many folks left on the waiting list the past two years, so it is recommended that you don’t wait until the last minute.

We are very excited to visit an important and fairly well-known domestic wine region that we haven’t been to before.  Additionally, we have only experienced a few wines from the entire state of Washington.  So, to help get us jacked up for the trip and expand our wine horizons, we have been reading Paul Gregutt’s guide to Washington Wines & Wineries and have already held a tasting at our local tasting club focused on red wines from Washington [subsequent post yet to be published on this tasting].  But you don’t have to be a blogger to enjoy and get value out of this wonderfully written book.  Paul has been a wine critic and author for over 25 years and knows the wine and wineries of his state inside and out.  In this book he has created a numerical scale that actually relates to measurable attributes of wineries and their wines with which to rank them in categories including Leaders, Specialist, Bench and Rookies.  Oh, and he’s technologically hip touting a blog of his own that he updates very frequently.

So, in my humble attempt to help you dear readers learn more and experience what this state, second only to California in production, has to offer and what is has attained in it’s short 40-year history, I offer to send a FREE copy of Paul Gregutt’s book to a randomly chosen winner.  Here’s how you can win:

1. Post a comment on this blog post OR the same, related post on the Wine Tonite! Fan page: http://www.facebook.com/WineTonite with something about Washington.  Hopefully, it’s about a wine or winery, but it can be anything really (i.e. I tasted this xyz wine from Walla Walla and it was good, I would really like to visit xyz winery in Puget Sound, or I think Pete Carroll will/will not succeed as the Seahawks head coach, etc…)

2. The contest period will be one week with a deadline of 12 Noon EST next Sunday, February 7th.  I will announce the winner that afternoon on this blog site via a new post.

3. The winner will be chosen randomly using the www.random.org True Random Number Generator.  Posts from both the blog and the Facebook fan page will be combined and ordered by date/time stamp and obviously not include any comments I may post along the way.

It’s that Simple!  Have fun and good luck and please pass this on to winelovers you know!  And if this gets you into the giving mood, check out how you can help a blogger earn a scholarship to join the conference HERE.

Cheers!