Adam and Angie LaZarre have a bit of a “Rockstar” vibe. We met them during Merlot Month when we sampled their 2017 Paso Robles Merlot. We wrote about that in our piece Merlot from Elegant to Badass.
When they sent us that sample, they included a bottle of their 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir.
*We received this wine as a sample. No other compensation was received. All opinions are our own.*
Adam & Angie LaZarre
Adam and Angie source fruit from the Central Coast Region from Monterrey to Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, and the Edna Valley. These are small-lot wines in varieties like Albarino, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Sav Blanc, but they started this project focused on Pinot Noir.
LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir
This Pinot Noir is made from Edna Valley Fruit from the Jespersen Ranch Vineyard. This vineyard sits just a few miles from the ocean, south of San Luis Obispo. This vineyard gives the Pinot long hang times developing concentrated flavors.
This is 100% Pinot Noir with 15% stem inclusion in the crush. Adam says this stem inclusion gives a slightly gamey note to the wine that will become more complex as it ages.
It does 16 months in oak (40% new), and they made just 273 cases.
My notes
Ruby in color with medium intensity in the glass.
Pronounced nose with baked fruits, brown sugar, spice, dried fig, raisin, and tobacco.
Dry with medium tannins and acidity
This has big flavors of black fruit, tart berries, licorice, cola, spice, and vanilla with a long finish.
100% Pinot Noir 14.7% abv SRP $42
Black bean lentil burgers
This was a Sun Basket lunch. It blew out of the water, my perception of black bean burgers. This had lots of mushroom in it, giving it great umami, and, well, mushrooms with the LaZarre Pinot Noir are a match made in heaven. It had tons of flavor to match the wine. The wine is definitely NOT a salmon Pinot, it needs something bolder to stand up to it and this burger did just that.
Strawberry Mousse Macarons
This was not my idea. I’ve tackled a bunch of new things recently, but tackling macarons was not on my list. Michael however, was ready to do this. (Perhaps bingeing 2 seasons of “Zumbo’s Just Desserts” did it.) So we did. They did fall a bit when they came out of the oven, but they tasted amazing!
Here is a link to the recipe.
The LaZarre Pinot was gorgeous with these. I think my note was “Yep, with this wine, any day of the week!”
We also paired with those blackberry goat cheese chocolate bombs and the Pinot Noir worked well with the dark chocolate and blackberry as well as the tang of the goat cheese.
More from Crushed Grape Chronicles on LaZarre Wines
Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.
When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.
