These Pinot Noirs measure up

Prince Edward County vintages, wines from Burgundy region faced expert panel

The second annual Judgement of Kingston tasting offered wine lovers the chance to compare a range of Pinot Noirs from nearby Prince Edward County and the Burgundy region of France.

The wines were tasted Nov. 4 by a capacity crowd of 250 consumers and a panel of six experts, which included myself, top Canadian sommelier Véronique Rivest and wine writers Jamie Goode and Carolyn Evans Hammond. No one knew the identity of the wines except one of the organizers, Lubomyr Luciuk, who selected the pouring order for the four county selections and three Burgundy samples.

Our expert panel was asked to rank the wines and identify whether each came from the county or Burgundy. It wasn’t easy.

The experts were often divided on the origin of the wines, which is a decided win for emerging producers in the county squaring off against wineries from the region that made Pinot Noir world famous. From the beginning, county wineries have had visions of Burgundy dancing in their heads because of the growing conditions that encouraged them to embrace Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as their staple grape varieties.

Burgundy won the day, placing first and second on the experts’ scorecard and in the popular vote. (Notably, the wines our panel favoured weren’t exactly mirrored by the consensus of the room.)

Domaine Drouhin Laroze Gevrey Chambertin 2012 ranked first with the head table, with Domaine Thenard Givry Cellier aux Moines 2011 being the runner-up. Stanners Vineyards Barrel Select Pinot Noir 2014 placed third and was our topscoring county selection. These wines were selected long ago and are no longer available to buy.

Organized by the Royal Winers Club, a Kingston-based tasting group of Royal Military College faculty members, the Judgement of Kingston is modelled after the so-called Judgement of Paris tasting in 1976 that helped cement the quality reputation of California wine.

Last year’s tasting featured select county Chardonnays against award-winning bottles from California. Next year, the focus returns to Chardonnay with county selections tasted alongside some notable producers from the Okanagan Valley, B.C. The event will take place Nov. 3, 2018. More information is available at judgementofkingston.ca. Christopher Waters is the co-founder and editor of Vines, a national consumer wine magazine.