After 12 years in San Francisco, the famed Pinot Party is heading to the Biggest Little City.

The Pinot Noir Summit has been hosted in San Francisco for the last 12 years, and due to the over-whelming amount of wine events in the city along with the expensive nature of staging the event, Barbara Drady and her husband John have decided that the Atlantis Reno will be the event’s new host. The Drady’s, owners of Affairs of the Vine (organizers of the Summit) are excited for the change of scenery that comes from moving the event to Reno. Las Vegas, Nevada was a possible thought as well, but in the end, Reno won out due to the easier drive and travel. Christian O’Kuinghttons, cellar master at the Atlantis is excited for the partnership as well, eagerly saying “Let’s do it!” when prompted with the opportunity.

The 13th Annual Pinot Noir Summit will run July 24 – 25, following the Pinot Noir Shootout where the top pinot producers in the country will be pitted against each other in a battle of taste buds to see which 96 wines will win the silver, gold, and double gold awards to be announced at the Summit. However, this contest is a rigorous feat, “it’s not one of these contests where 50 percent of the wines win gold,” said Reno local John Klacking. Klacking has been entering his pinots from Double Bond winery for five years, some of which have made it to the Summit this year. The shootout still takes place in San Francisco, CA and occurs over a span of about 3 months. The panel of wine professionals judging taste no more than 32 wines per day, totaling around 500.

Alta Maria Vineyards’ 2010 pinot noir earned a gold medal at the 11th Annual Pinot Noir Shootout.

Pinot Perfection

Pinot grapes are difficult to grow and can be fickle in nature as well as expensive to upkeep. Not many smaller wineries can afford to raise such grapes. There are approximately only 290,000 acres of pinot grapes worldwide in primarily France, California and Oregon. Pinot noir is known as a wine with subtle nuances that its drinkers come to know and differentiate sip to sip and bottle to bottle. This versatile wine can carry notes of cranberry, raspberry or cherry as well as clove, vanilla, licorice and caramel. Raised in French Oak barrels, this wine is meant to be stored and served cold to the touch (63 degrees F| 17 degrees C).

Public Day Events

The public tasting occurs on July 25 and will be a blind tasting so that labels and brands will not bias the tasters. A public blind tasting of this size is quite unusual. O’Kuinghttons says, “it’s a great opportunity for everyone – novice, middle, expert – to really experience and learn what they like about pinot.” The public tasting will result in a people’s choice winner in addition to the winners chosen by the wine professionals.

Furthermore, there will be two classroom-style wine workshops so participants can learn what about pinot’s and their differences. At the “All Things Pinot” lunch, all varieties of pinot grape wines will be showcased: pinot blanc, pinot gris, and pinot meuneir (one of three main Champagne grapes). After lunch, patrons will be split into two groups to blindly taste wines and choose their top 5.

Awards

The awards and tasting gala will begin at 6:30 pm where the public and professional winners will be announced. When the winners are revealed, the big wineries see long lines of people waiting to try the winners.

13th Annual Pinot Noir Summit

Where: Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, Reno NV

When: July 24 – 25, 2015

Public Portion: July 25, 11 am – 9:30 pm

Tickets: All-day tickets: $150, Tasting Gala only tickets: $85 (click here for purchasing information)

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