At £12.99 this is not an everyday wine purchase, but Aldi’s online-only American pale pink White Pinot Noir is a top 5-star deal for the wine enthusiast and worth seeking out even if you’re not a regular Aldi shopper. Made with the black grape variety Pinot Noir, this blush version may have come about due to a poor harvest and under ripe grapes but the result is a tasty and complex wine with a sweet edge that matches both light lunches and robust tomato dishes.
Left Coast Cellars admit on the bottle’s back label that the wine “began as an improvisation” with the rainy weather making the sour grapes “perfectly suited for a white wine” rather than the more usual dark red Noir wine they’d been expecting.
By fermenting only the grape juice, and removing the skins as soon as possible, the Oregon winemaker has left the wine in an almost white wine state and stopped any colour and extra tannins leeching out.
More winemaking know-how has added extra flavours and complexity by leaving the wine on its lees, the creamy deposit at the bottom of the fermentation tank that are the natural remains of dead yeast cells after they’ve done their work. Other wines, like Muscadet sur Lie, use this method too and the resulting extra flavours are like apple pie or fresh white bread.
So what other tastes can you expect in the Left Coast White Pinot Noir 2020? There’s plenty of fruity pear with sweeter peach and some fresh lemon to balance things out. A sweet candy floss edge makes the wine easy drinking and enjoyable.
A really nice wine for £12.99 at Aldi (available to buy online only).
There are a few other white Pinot Noirs around – try the German Mosel Heinrichschof Weissburgunder from Virgin Wines at £13.99, or an English White Pinot Noir from the Aldbourne Estate for £15.95.
But if you need an extra reason to buy the west coast USA Aldi version then perhaps the talking point of the 1970 Oregon exploding whale could persuade you. Watch the digitally remastered footage on YouTube with TV reporter Paul Linnman explaining why a 70ft washed up dead whale on an Oregon beach resulted in...well watch and see why this has gone down in history.
Wineuncorked.co.uk recommends
Left Coast Oregon White Pinot Noir
£12.99 Aldi
Made with the black grape variety Pinot Noir, this blush version may have come about due to a poor harvest and under ripe grapes but the result is a tasty and complex wine with a sweet edge that matches both light lunches and robust tomato dishes. There’s plenty of fruity pear with sweeter peach and some fresh lemon to balance things out. A sweet candy floss edge makes the wine easy drinking and enjoyable.
Mosel Heinrichschof Weissburgunder 2018
£12.99 Virgin Wines (now the 2019 version)
Made from what are known locally in the Mosel as ‘White Burgundy’ grapes, but better known as White Pinot when grown in Burgundy, these unstable versions of the black Pinot Noir make a white wine that tastes a little like Pinot Grigio that’s had a dash of tonic water. There’s a slight fizz and minerality to the taste along with fresh pear. A conversation wine rather than a glugger.
Aldbourne Estate White Pinot Noir 2018
£15.95 Aldbourne Estate
A light, delicate and subtle wine made from whole bunches of Pinot Noir. Aromas of rose petal, maraschino cherry & redcurrant with flavours of raspberries and cream.
