Bacchus Ginger's Cuvée Pinot Noir-There is more to the story!

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The fascinating world of wine often hides gems in plain sight. Meet the Bacchus Ginger's Cuvée Pinot Noir 2023, a $12.99 bottle that breaks the assumption that quality must come with a hefty price tag.

What makes this wine remarkable isn't just its approachable price point, but the pedigree behind it. David Gordon, who created this Monterey Pinot Noir, has served as the sommelier at Robert De Niro's Tribeca Grill since 1990. As one of America's pioneering wine experts, Gordon's connections run deep throughout the industry. He's one of only three Americans to become an honorary citizen of Château Neuf-du-Pape, and when he decided to create affordable wines, top producers like Camus and Minor Family eagerly offered grapes and technical guidance.

Named after Gordon's daughter Ginger (a sure sign of quality, as winemakers never cut corners on bottles bearing family names), this cuvée balances freshness with complexity. The wine undergoes a thoughtful fermentation process: 50% in stainless steel for bright fruit preservation and 50% in neutral oak barrels for subtle oxygenation and texture development. After 10 months in neutral barrels, the result delivers vibrant cherry notes complemented by herbs, strawberry, licorice, and hints of orange zest and mocha.

What we're tasting is the advantage of insider knowledge—Gordon's ability to source exceptional grapes through his network, identifying opportunities where high-quality vineyards might have fruit available due to contract changes. For wine lovers, this translates to experiencing grapes that might otherwise end up in bottles twice the price.

Whether you're new to Pinot Noir or a seasoned enthusiast looking for your next everyday sipper, Bacchus Ginger's Cuvée demonstrates that sometimes the best values come from those who know the wine world well enough to work outside conventions. If you spot this bottle, don't hesitate to experience what happens when decades of fine wine expertise meets value pricing. Your palate (and wallet) will thank you.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, welcome, it's Domain Dave from
CheapWineFindercom.
Again, like always, three timesa week we write up a review of
value-priced wine and threetimes a week we plug in the
microphone and we talk about itand we've got an interesting
kind of fun one today.
The name of it's the.
The brand is Bacchus.

(00:22):
This is Ginger's Cuvée, pinotNoir 2023.
I found it at a local wineretailer for $12.99.
It's a Pinot Noir from Monterey.
It has kind of an interestingstory.
This is a brand by David Gordonwho since 1990, has been the

(00:46):
sommelier at Tribeca Grill inNew York.
That's the restaurant thatRobert De Niro is co-owner of
and he is kind of at theforefront of sommeliers in the
United States.
He was doing it before it wasbig time.
Sommeliers United States.

(01:07):
He was doing it before it wasbig time.
He's only the third Americanever to have an honorary, be an
honorary citizen of ChateauNaftupap.
He is big on different groups,he knows everybody and when he
decided to try to do avalue-priced wine which I
respect somebody who's doing allthese high-end wines and he's
trying to do a wine-priced wine,which I respect Somebody who's
doing all these high-end winesand he's trying to do a wine

(01:27):
that people can afford and it'sreally good.
When he first started it he hadpeople like Camus and Minor
Family offering to give himgrapes and technical advice, and
he's been doing this brand fora little bit and this one's from
Monterey but he still knowseverybody, so when he goes to

(01:50):
get grapes it's like a buddy ofhis or someone he's been
acquainted to or someone he'sknown and said, hey, try this,
this vineyard is reallyoutstanding and they just had a
contract fail.
You can go in there and getsome really good grapes at a
really good price, and that'show this works.
Now here is a wine fact for youthe Ginger's Cuvée, and a cuvée

(02:18):
is a blend.
In this case it's a blend ofvineyards, but if it was a
Merlot with a Cabernet Franc,that could be a cuvee too, just
because they blend things.
But this is a blend ofvineyards.
Ginger is David Gordon'sdaughter.
Anytime you see a winery name, awine after a loved one, it is

(02:43):
going to be the highest qualitythey can do.
Doesn't mean you're going tolike it all the time, but it's
going to be high quality Becauseyou know the reason is
sometimes you just don't likewines that are really good.
It's not your thing, but it'sgoing to be.
There's going to be noscrimping.
There's going to be no.
You know they're not cuttingcorners anywhere.

(03:04):
You know they're not cuttingcorners anywhere.
You know Ginger's daughter.
It's going to be a good andit's a $12.99 wine.
It probably costs more.
This place has got really goodprices but it's a solid Pinot
Noir from California, made bysomeone who knows everybody and

(03:24):
knows wine.
So that's not too bad.
I'm going to take a sip.
It's really balanced, it'sreally fresh.
It is fruit forward in anon-fruit forward jammy kind of

(03:45):
way.
There's some really freshcherries on this, some herbs,
something to kind of dry thingsup a little bit.
There's some strawberry,there's some licorice, maybe a
faint little bit of Dr Pepper,that kind of fruity kind of

(04:06):
thing.
Not a lot, just a little.
Maybe some orange zest, alittle rough edge here and there
, maybe some mocha.
You know it's one of thosePinot Noirs with a lot of
different flavors.
You know you can't always youkind of guess what you're going
to get with the Pinot Noir.
There are certain flavorsyou're almost always going to
get but, depending on thevineyard or whatever, there's

(04:29):
always going to be somesurprises in there.
And that's a pretty good deal.
The art of wine is the blending.
The fermentation is likescience.
This wine was fermented in 50%stainless steel and 50% neutral

(04:56):
oak barrels.
Neutral oak barrels don't giveoff any flavor, but a stainless
steel vat does not allow airtransfer and even though a
barrel is watertight, it's notcompletely airtight and that
little bit of air coming throughinteracts with the wine and
changes the flavor.
So you're going to get somelittle bit of differences here

(05:19):
and there and so it blendstogether.
You're going to get a littleanother flavor, a little texture
, and then they put it inneutral barrels for 10 months to
balance out, which is a nicelittle thing.
Again, you're not going to getthe chocolate vanilla, of course
.
You're not going to get it withFrench oak anyway, but there

(05:41):
you go.
So this is a well-made wine.
He knows people.
He finds vineyards that havegood grapes.
He has people who help him withthe wine, know what they're
doing.
Plus, he knows what he's doingalready.
So this is a good value pricewine.
This is one to seek out.
I'm not sure how well it'sdistributed, but if you find

(06:06):
Bacchus, ginger's Cuvée, pinotNoir 2023, and they've got a
couple other wines in there,check it out.
It's well worth drinking.
It's a quality Pinot Noir, it'spriced right.
So there you go.
So, adios, this is Domain Davecheapwinefightercom.
Like us where you like yourpodcasts, if you will.

(06:27):
Pushing buttons does work forsome stupid reason.
I don't understand it.
But, adios, keep it cheap andI'll be talking to you.
Bye-bye.