On the nose, there is rich forward and wonderful fruit with red cherries, raspberries, stewed strawberries, aniseed, spice, minerals and hints of wood. In the glass, Fat Cat Pinot Noir is a lightish, translucent garnet red with bright red streaks, faded red to glass-clear rim definition with medium-high viscosity. Franzia cuts the overhead and delivers a great-tasting bottle of wine right to consumers at the more-than-reasonable $8 price tag. Fat Cat is blended from fairly premium fruit, culled from the production of some well-known vineyards. Nevertheless, the man behind Fat Cat is Fred Franzia of “two-buck chuck” fame.
It is indigenous to the highly complex and sophisticated Burgundy region of France, where this grape varietal thrives in a much cooler climate and on much poorer soil. Pinot is not an easy grape to get right, especially in the warm California climate. The abundance of quality fruit grown in California’s Central Coast has given rise to a large number of consumer-friendly and excellently priced wines, such as this Fat Cat Pinot Noir, which is perfect for pairing with turkey. The search for the perfect Thanksgiving wine is over.
