What reminded me to write an article about Pinot Noir wine?  An excellent vintage Domaine Romanee Conti from Burgundy? Or an outstanding Pinot Noir from a new world country?  Semi-bingo!

That was not yet the major reason as the main momentum was actually coming from a wonderful wine dinner with some successful entrepreneurs and their staff in Shenzhen at one recent night.  One of their staff at the dinner who is a young girl not yet exceeding the age of 23 told me that the best kind of wine that she was so fond of was Pinot Noir.  I asked myself by heart: “How is it possible?” She must have missed or skipped a great lot of varieties since she had become 18 or been already captured by the elegant Pinot Noir.

Unfortunately, there were only exclusive and premium Italian & Spanish wines served at the dinner (so sorry but salute to that young girl). Anyway, there is nothing related to RIGHT or WRONG from her statement of loving Pinot Noir as it is simply a matter of taste.

Now I have to share my tasting notes of a California Pinot Noir 1999 from CARNEROS CREEK as produced by Las Brisas Vineyard with readers.  I have to clarify that I have no bias against Pinot Noir from any other country or region like Burgundy.  This California Pinot Noir was served with Burgundy Pinot Noir 2001 & 2004 plus some prestigious Italian wines in a big dinner in China attended by 20 different guests. Due to some unknown reasons, the majority found that the Californian one was more outstanding than the other two Burgundy reds (probably those two reds had experienced hot Summer last year due to overlooked intensive temperature storage).

According to my understanding, the best American Pinot Noir can be found in Oregon, next in Napa Valley. I must admit that this Californian 1999 was tasted at the right time.  Let me try to express my finding of this wine in a more user-friendly way as follows so that the public can understand what I meant:  

Dark medium intense burgundy hue with authentic aromas of preserved plum and cherry on the nose, the palate was surrounded by mulberry and cinnamon, the tannin was smooth and round & the body was almost full, the 14.5% alcoholic strength was not apparent at all, the oaky flavour only appeared when the wine as ready to be swallowed, the finish was lengthy and such condition lasted almost 4 hours.

It was really wonderful! I have not got time to study the background & history of Las Brisas Vineyard, but as what my friend in Hong Kong told me (he gave this wine as a little present to me), he tasted the same wine some years ago and it was even releasing more elements (at least far than what I described as above).  It was indeed the right moment to taste this almost 10 year-old wine!  I learned that it cost over USD30 which was still a good price in former time.

The young girl in the beginning of the conversation had given me a very interesting answer when I asked her: “Which region Pinot Noir that you like most?” – simply a charming smile, ha ha! 

是什么促使我写一篇关于黑品乐（Pinot Noir）葡萄酒的文章？是因为来自勃艮第酒区罗曼尼?康帝酒庄某个上佳的年份吗？还是因为某款来自新世界产区的优秀黑品乐打动了我呢？猜对了一半！

让我想到写黑品乐的真正起因源于，不久前，我在深圳参加了一场精彩的葡萄酒晚宴，这是为一些成功的企业家和其员工而举办的。其中的一个员工，某个年轻的女孩子——应该不超过23岁，告诉我，她最爱黑品乐酿造的葡萄酒。我问自己：“这可能吗？”这个女孩子自从她18岁成年，或者是开始喝酒以后，一定是错过了或者直接跳过了许多葡萄品种，就直接被黑品乐的优雅所吸引。

对这个年轻的姑娘而言，不走运的是，当晚供应的只有上好的意大利和西班牙酒，没有她的黑品乐。不管怎样，对于这个女孩喜欢黑品乐的宣言，不存在对或错的问题，只是个人口味的差异。

话说回来，我想与大家分享一款黑品乐酒的品尝心得，它就是CARNEROS CREEK Pinot Noir California 1999，产自Las Brisas酒园。我得说明一下，对黑品乐葡萄酒，不管像法国勃艮第产区还是其它国家，我都没有什么偏见。我品尝这款美国加州的黑品乐时，是和两款勃艮第2001年和2004年黑品乐酒，以及一些尊贵的意大利酒一起的，当时是一个美酒盛宴，大约有20名客人参加。不知道是什么原因，绝大部分人都认为，这款加州的黑品乐，远比两款勃艮第的更为出色。（是否是因为去年夏天炎热，它们存储不当的原因？）

我个人的见解，最好的美国黑品乐产自俄勒冈州，接下来才是纳帕谷。我必须承认这瓶Californian 1999现在正是合适喝的时候。让我尝试用直白的语言来向读者描述这款酒：

中等的勃艮第红，闻之有李子和樱桃的香气，品尝时有桑椹与肉桂的味道，单宁滑顺，酒体饱满，酒精度高达14.5度喝起来却一点也不明显，橡木的香气在口中即将被吞咽时才呈现，余味长，这种品尝状态能持续近四个小时。

真的很棒！我没有很多时间来研究Las Brisas葡萄园的背景和历史，但把这瓶酒当作礼物送给我的香港朋友前些年喝过这款酒，并描述出比我刚才所写的多得多的品尝心得。现在确实是喝这瓶年份将近十年的黑品乐酒的时候。我得知这款酒的售价超过30美元，不过我还是认为它值这个价钱。

当我回过头问开始对话时的那个年轻的女孩她最喜欢哪个产区的黑品乐葡萄酒时，她只是冲我甜美地微笑了一下作为回答，算是给我了一个有趣的答案吧，呵呵。