If your salad days were in the 1990s and you’re a wine blogger, I defy you to write about the 2010 Mouton Noir O.P.P. (“Other People’s Pinot” Noir) and not think of the ubiquitous Naughty by Nature song. It was inescapable in 1991.
Well, I was able to escape it. I think I spent most of 1991 holed up in a dorm room at Grinnell College getting stoned and listening to the Grateful Dead…on cassette tape. (Big fan of 5/19/74: Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR. Love the Wall of Sound-era Dead.)
But those days are behind me. (BTW, if my mom is reading this she should know I did read a bunch of books, learn some stuff, and graduate with a 3.3 GPA.) Now I spend my time holed up in rooms drinking wine. In this case the 2010 Mouton Noir “Other People’s Pinot” from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Let’s focus on the final “P” in “O.P.P.” because it’s worth talking about. It’s not easy finding Pinot Noir from anywhere that hovers around twenty bucks that’s worth crowing about, but Mouton Noir delivers the goods. And though you may find the name jokey, it actually is assembled from Other People’s Pinot Noir. Which is why the price is nice.
Now enjoy China Cat Sunflower from 5/19/74. It’s the best thing they’ve ever done. Perfection from each individual.
This wine was provided as a sample by Vinum.
