Pinot Noir (pee-no nwar) is recognized as one of the world's finest red wine grapes. In its native France, Pinot Noir can be found in all the famous red Burgundy wines such as Pommard, Chambertin, Romanée-Conti and as a major grape in the Champagne region. These wines are deservedly described as spicy, rich and complex with great finesse, elegance and silky texture.

Pinot can be quite difficult, however, for the wine grower and the winemaker. This necessitates special efforts and skills to coax the best from this aristocratic grape. In California, Pinot Noir has been extensively planted, especially since the late 1980s. Winemakers there pay close attention to vineyard location (the hilly, cool areas with porous soils are best). They also incorporate Burgundian winemaking techniques including adding stems to the tank after crushing, reduced fining and filtering, and the use of wild yeasts for fermentation. This critical attention to detail has added substantially to the success of California Pinot Noir, much of which is now on a par with its French cousins.

As a red wine, it goes perfectly well with meats with some degree of fattiness-especially with a twist of pepper or slightly bitter vegetables on the side. Because it is very soft and tender, it is an easy-drinking red wine that goes just as well with white meats like grilled fish, veal, pork and chicken with

To commemorate Illinois Wine Month 2007, many of the states 72 wineries and 300 vineyards will be celebrating with wine and food festivals. Discover Illinois Wine Country as the perfect destination... spend a day or a weekend on one of the state's two wine trails. On September 15-16, go to Starved Rock State Park in Utica for the annual Vintage Illinois wine festival. For more info go to: illinoiswine.com; shawneewinetrail.com; visitnorthernillinois.com; vintageillinois.com.

Here are some suggested events:

Lynfred Winery
15 South Roselle Road
Roselle, Illinois 60172
630-529-9463

Oktoberfest, September 29-30.

BIN 36 Restaurant
339 North Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60610
312-755-WINE (9463)

Bin School '07: Wine 101-
Sunday, September 23, 6:30 pm

Fall Harvest Festival
Mix, measure, experiment.
The wine experts will show you how. Share your blend with friends and family. They'll be serving up munchies too.
Sunday, October 7, 1:00 - 4:00 pm

Geja's Café
340 West Armitage
Chicago, IL 60614
773-281-9101

Enjoy Illinois Wine Tasting
Taste wines from 8 wineries withour cheese and chocolate fondues. Sunday, August 26 at 1:00 pm

8th Annual Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Wine Tasting and Live Auction - Sunday, September

Who to invite
Invite anyone who likes wine or wants to learn more about it. Plan on serving 2-3 ounces of each wine per guest - with this in mind, one bottle will serve 8-10 guests.

The wines
Use wines from our "Specials" assortments on the Internet. Be sure to have a few extra bottles on hand if you plan to serve food after the tasting.

Equipment

Where to hold the tasting
Good light & ventilation are key, whether on the patio or in the dining room.

When to hold the tasting
A relaxed weekend afternoon or any early evening will do. Be sure to plan the time to allow guests to proceed to a good meal, if you don't plan to provide lunch or dinner.

Event timing
24 hours ahead: Stand all bottles upright to allow any sediment to settle. 2 hours ahead: Allow ample time for wine to reach the proper temperature: 45º for sparkling; 55º for whites; 65º for reds. 30 minutes ahead: Open the wines.

The Wine Insiders panel samples more then 2,000 wines each year to ensure you always get the very best. They have exacting standards that they use to evaluate each bottle they taste. Before a wine is selected for Wine Insiders, it must offer the right combination of taste, quality and value. Out of every hundred bottles our panel samples, only one makes the grade.

Our panelists meet together and separately to taste various wines. They evaluate robust reds and crisp whites from famous wineries and independent winemakers as far away as South America, Europe and Australia.

Each panelist has years of experience studying and understanding wines. And they bring a unique passion to their job. Every once in a while they discover a wine that they believe is truly exceptional… something that makes their jobs especially rewarding.

This month, the panel is especially enthusiastic about several wines. These include the Brick Kiln Syrah, a California Club offering, and the Diamond Oaks Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Connoisseur’s Club. If you’re not a member of these clubs, you can order the wines by calling our Wine Insiders hotline: 1-800-615-7304.

Dinesh Maniar believes patience is the key to excellence. The quiet and unassuming founder of Diamond Oaks, he is patience and persistence personified. A self-made man from modest beginnings, his lifelong dream was to create world-class wines. Intuitively, he understood that to achieve this goal, his first step was to acquire the finest vineyard land. He set his sights on Napa and Sonoma appellations, exclusively. Slowly and steadily, he has stayed the course to realize his personal vision.

The Maniar promise extends to future generations. The family shares a collective passion and hands-on commitment to this deeply personal project. Because the Maniar name appears on every label, the future of Diamond Oaks will long remain as it is today: A true family wine estate.

Since 1977, the Maniar family has acquired 550 acres of estate vineyards in four premier Sonoma and Napa appellations - Napa Valley, Chalk Hill, Carneros and Alexander Valley. Each of these picture-perfect vineyards was years in the making. Among the family's 550 acres are 330 acres of cool and windswept Carneros vineyard, including a large percentage dedicated to classic Dijon and Bordeaux clones. The release of a new wine from these vines comes not in response to market forces, but from the fact of perfect readiness. After years of careful attention to detail, the Maniars are proud to release a collection of Chardonnays of remarkable distinction.

Dinesh acquired a 52-acre wine country retreat near the town of Calistoga in the upper Napa Valley. In 1982, he purchased another vineyard property that included a prohibition-era winery located in Sonoma County's bucolic Alexander Valley. Shortly thereafter, he added another 92 acres in the Chalk Hill district, followed by the purchase of 330 acres in Carneros in 1994.

For more than two decades, fruit from the Maniar family's carefully tended vineyards has been in great demand among California's most prestigious wineries. Now, the very finest lots of fruit are held in reserve for the family's own Diamond Oaks brand. The fruit is harvested, vinified and aged in separate lots, according to specific selections and designated blocks of vines within each vineyard. This special, individual-lot winemaking strategy affords our winemaker a full palate of flavors from which to compose the fine wines of Diamond Oaks. Diamond-Oaks.com

Can you taste the sweetness?
Sweetness is tasted at the tip of the tongue. It comes from the sugar in ripe grapes that is left after fermentation has finished. Is the wine dry, medium or sweet?

Can you taste the acidity?
Acidity is detected on the sides of the tongue and tastes like lemons. It balances the sweetness. White wines have more acidity than red wines.

Can you taste the tannin?
Tannin is noticed at the back of the tongue and tastes bitter like a strong cup of tea. It also has the sensation of an underripe or green banana. It is mainly found in red wines.

Can you feel the alcohol?
Alcohol is sensed at the back of the throat and gives a warming sensation. The higher the level of sugar in the grapes before fermentation, the higher potential alcohol the wine will have.

How 'long' is the wine?
This is a term that describes the length of time you can taste the wine once you have swallowed it. The longer the length, the higher the quality.

What can the taste tell you?
Quality: A good sign of quality is balance. A wine is balanced when all of the wine's components (e.g., sweetness, acidity, tannins) blend together. The balance or potential to be balanced after aging is a sign of quality.
Maturity: Older red wines tend to taste more savory and spicy. Older white wines tend to taste more honeyed and yeasty. Younger wines tend to taste more of fruit.

INGREDIENTS
- 4 boneless chicken breast halves
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons dry white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley
- 4 ounces herbed goat cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic herb seasoning, optional

GOAT CHEESE SAUCE:
Combine olive oil, wine, and chicken broth in a saucepan; simmer over medium heat until reduced by about 1/2. Add the parsley, goat cheese, salt and pepper, and garlic herb seasoning, if using. Continue simmering, stirring frequently, until sauce is thickened.

PREPARATION:
Put each chicken breast half between two sheets of plastic wrap; pound lightly to flatten evenly. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken pieces.

Lightly oil the grill or grill pan. Grill over medium coals on medium-high heat for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Place the chicken breasts on a platter and spoon the herbed goat cheese sauce over the chicken.

Source: About.com