Pinot noir grapes are grown in
diverse locations around the world, but the grape is chiefly associated with
the Burgundy
region of France.
Production of pinot noir dates back over two thousand years.
It is widely considered to
produce some of the finest wines in the world, but is a difficult variety to
cultivate and transform into wine.
Pinot noir thrives in France's Burgundy region,
particularly in the Côte d'Or which has produced some of the world's most
celebrated wines for centuries. It is also planted in Canada, Germany, Switzerland,
Australia,
California,
South
Africa, the Okanagan Valley in Canada, New Zealand
and Chile, with
some of the best regarded coming from California's Sonoma
County with its Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast
Appellations, as well as the Central Coast's Santa Lucia Highlands appellation;
the Willamette Valley in Oregon; Martinborough,
Waipara, and Central Otago in New Zealand.
The leaves of the pinot are
approximately 12 cm (5 inches) in diameter, smaller than the cabernet sauvignon
although larger than the syrah. The grape cluster is small and cylindrical,
vaguely shaped like a pine cone. Some viticultural historians believe this
shape may have given rise to the name.
The pinot noir tends to produce
narrow trunks and branches. In the vineyard it is sensitive to light exposure,
cropping levels (it must be low yielding), soil types and pruning techniques.
In the winery it is sensitive to fermentation methods, yeast strains and is
highly reflective of its terroir with different regions producing very
different wines. Its thin skin makes it highly susceptible to bunch rot and
other fungal diseases. The vines themselves are prone to downy
mildew, leaf roll, and fanleaf. These complications have given the grape
the reputation of being difficult to grow: Jancis
Robinson calls pinot a "minx of a vine" and André Tchelistcheff declared that "God made
cabernet sauvignon whereas the devil made pinot noir."
However, pinot wines are among
the most popular in the world. Joel Fleischman of Vanity Fair describes pinot noir as
"the most romantic of wines, with so voluptuous a perfume, so sweet an
edge, and so powerful a punch that, like falling in love, they make the blood
run hot and the soul wax embarrassingly poetic." Master Sommelier Madeline
Triffon calls pinot "sex in a glass."[1]
The tremendously broad range of bouquets,
flavors, textures and impressions that pinot noir can produce sometimes
confuses tasters. In the broadest terms, the wine tends to be of light to
medium body with an aroma reminiscent of black cherry, raspberry or currant.
The grape's color when young, often compared to that of garnet, is often much
lighter than that of other red wines. This is because pinot noir has relatively
small amounts of red pigment due to its thin skin.
It is also used in the production
of Champagne (usually along with Chardonnay
and Pinot
meunier) and is planted in most of the world's wine growing regions for use
in both still and sparkling wines. Pinot noir grown for dry table wines is
generally low-yielding and often difficult to grow well. Pinot noir
grown for use in sparkling wines (e.g. Champagne) is generally higher yielding.
In addition to being used for the
production of sparkling and still red wine, pinot noir is also sometimes used
for rosé still
wines, and even vin
gris white wines.
Pinot noir is very prone to
mutation. The widely used varieties pinot gris,
pinot
blanc and pinot meunier are also relatives of pinor noir. As of
1990, there were
some 46 clones
of pinot noir widely used in France. This compared to only 32 clones of the
much more widely planted cabernet sauvignon.
In South
Africa, pinot noir has been crossed with the cinsaut grape to
make a unique variety called pinotage.
Pinot Noir is produced in several
wine growing areas of Australia, notably in Tasmania and Victoria.
In Austria, pinot noir is called Blauburgunder
(literally Blue Burgundy) and produced in Burgenland and Lower Austria.
Austrian Pinot noir wines are dry red wines similar in character to the red
wines of Burgundy.
Pinot Noir has made France's Burgundy appellation
famous, and vice-versa. Many wine historians, including John Winthrop Haeger
and Roger Dion, believe that the association between pinot and Burgundy was the
explicit strategy of Burgundy's Valois dukes. Roger Dion, in his thesis regarding Philip
the Bold's role in promoting the spread of pinot noir, holds that the
reputation of Beaune
wines as "the finest in the world" was a propaganda triumph of
Burgundy's Valois dukes. In any event, the worldwide archetype for pinot noir
is that grown in Burgundy where it has been cultivated since 100 CE.
Burgundy's pinot noir produces
great wines which can age very well in good years, developing floral flavours
as they age, often reaching peak 15 or 20 years after the vintage. Many of the
wines are produced in very small quantities and can be very expensive. Cheaper
examples are available, and provided one is willing to sample, it is possible
to experience the Burgundy character but at a more affordable level.
Today, the celebrated Côte d’Or
region of Burgundy has about 4,500 hectares (11,000 acres) of pinot noir. Most
of the region's finest wines are produced from this area. The Côte Challonaise
and Máconnais regions in southern Burgundy have another 4,000 hectares (10,000
acres).
In Jura département, across the river valley from
Burgundy, the wines made from pinot noir are lighter.
In Champagne it used in blending with chardonnay
and pinot
meunier. It can also appear unblended, in which case it may be labelled blanc
de noirs. The Champagne appelation has more pinot planted
than any other area of France. The most prestigious pure Pinot Noir Champagne
is Bollinger's Vieilles Vignes Françaises
In Sancerre it is
used to make red and rosé wines, much lighter in style that those of Burgundy,
refreshing served chilled, especially in warmer years when they are less thin.
In Alsace
it is generally used to make rosé wines. However, it is also used to make genuine red wines
usually called pinot noir rouge, which are similar in character to red Burgundy
and Beaujolais wines but are consumed chilled. Prominent examples are Rouge de
Barr and Rouge d'Ottrott. Pinot noir rouge is the only red wine produced in
Alsace.
In Germany
it is called Spätburgunder, and is now the most widely planted red
grape. Historically much German wine produced from pinot noir was pale, often rosé like the red
wines of Alsace.
However recently, despite the northerly climate, darker, richer reds have been
produced, often barrel (barrique) aged, in regions such as Baden, Pfalz and Ahr. These are rarely
exported and are often very expensive in Germany for the better examples. As
"Rhenish", German Pinot Noir is mentioned several times in
Shakesperean plays as a highly prized wine. [1]
There is also a smaller-berried,
lower yield variety called Frühburgunder which is grown in Franken and can
produce very good wines. It is thought to be a mutant clone of pinot noir.
Robert M. Parker, Jr. says in one of his
books that German pinot noir tastes thin, like badly made Burgundy wine.
While some examples may not be well made, many are, and are highly sought
after.
While it is the most common red
grape in Germany, much of the Spätburgunder is used to produce Sekt, German sparkling
wine rather than red wine.
In Italy, where pinot noir is
known as Pinot nero, it has traditionally been cultivated in the Alto
Adige, Collio Goriziano, Oltrepò Pavese and Trentino regions to produce
Burgundy style red wines. Cultivation of pinot noir in other regions of Italy,
mostly since the 1980s has been challenging due to climate and soil conditions.
Pinot noir is a popular grape
variety all over Switzerland. In German speaking regions of Switzerland it is
often called Blauburgunder. Pinot noir wines are produced in Neuchâtel,
Schaffhausen, St.Gallen and Bündner Herrschaft. Neuchâtel, which is across the
border from Burgundy is renowned for its Pinot noir, a full bodied dry red
wine. In Valais, Pinor noir is blended with Gamay to produce the well known
Dôle.
Recently pinot noir has been
produced in small amounts in Catalonia, in the Spanish appellation "Costers del Segre" DO and the surrounding area of Lleida.
Pinot Noir is a grape variety
whose importance in New Zealand is greater than the weight of planting. Early
in the modern wine industry (late 1970s early 1980s), the comparatively low
annual sunshine hours to be found in NZ discouraged the planting of red
varieties. But even at this time great hopes were had for Pinot Noir (see Romeo
Bragato). Initial results were not promising for several reasons, including
the mistaken planting of Gamay, and the limited number of Pinot Noir clones
available for planting. After the strong results with Cabernet Sauvignon and
Merlot in the Hawkes Bay and Auckland regions, industry interest ebbed away
from Pinot Noir.
One notable exception was the St
Helena 1984 Pinot Noir from the Canterbury region. This led to the belief
for a time that Canterbury might become the natural home for Pinot Noir in New
Zealand. While the early excitement passed, the Canterbury region has witnessed
the development of Pinot Noir as the dominant red variety. The sub-region Waipara has some
interesting wines. Producers include Pegasus Bay, Waipara Springs and Omihi
Hills.
The next region to excel with
Pinot Noir was Martinborough on the southern end of the North Island.
Several vinyards including Palliser Estate, Martinborough Vinyards, and Ata
Rangi consistently produced interesting and increasingly complex wine from
Pinot Noir at the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s.
At around this time the first
plantings of Pinot Noir in Central Otago occurred in the Kawarau
Gorge. Central Otago had a long (for New Zealand) history as a producer of
quality stone fruit and particularly cherries. Significantly further south than
all other wine regions in New Zealand, it had been overlooked despite a long
history of grape growing. However, it benefited from being surrounded by mountain
ranges which increased its temperature variations both between seasons and
between night and day making the climate unusual in the typically maritime
conditions in New Zealand.
The first vines were planted
using holes blasted out of the north facing schist slopes of the region,
creating difficult, highly marginal conditions. The first results coming in the
mid to late 1990s were exciting. Not only did the wines have the distinctive
acidity and abundant fruit of New Zealand wines, but they demonstrated a great
deal of complexity, with aromas and flavours not common in New Zealand wine and
normally associated with burgundian wine. Producers include Felton Rd, Chard
Farm and Mt Difficulty.
The latest sub-region appears to
be Waitaki, on the border between Otago and Canterbury.
Oregon pinot noir pioneer David Lett
of Eyrie Vineyards first planted pinot noir in Oregon
in 1965, and several other growers followed suit throughout the 1970's. In
1979, David took his wines to a competition in Paris, known in English as the Wine
Olympics, and placed third among pinots. The competition, sponsored by the
French magazine Gault-Millau, was a followup to the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, and pitted
French wines against wines from the rest of the world. In a 1980 rematch
arranged by French wine magnate Robert Drouhin, the Eyrie vintage improved to second
place. The competition instantly put Oregon on the map as a world class pinot
noir producing region.
The Willamette Valley of Oregon is at the same
latitude as the Burgundy region of France, and has a similar climate in which
the finicky pinot noir grapes thrive. In 1987, Drouhin purchased land in the
Willamette Valley, and in 1989 built Domaine Drouhin Oregon, a state-of-the-art,
gravity-fed winery. Throughout the 1980's, the Oregon wine
industry blossomed, and today, Oregon is regarded as one of the world's
best pinot noir producing regions.
Quality pinot noir has been grown
in Ontario for some time in the Niagara
Peninsula wine region, as well as on the north shore of Lake Erie.
It has also been grown recently in the Okanagan, Lower
Mainland, and Vancouver Island wine regions of British
Columbia.
In the last decade growers in the
Prince Edward County region of
Ontario, such as wine pioneer Geoff Heinricks, have made a concerted effort to
grow pinot noir in the region, as it is felt by advocates that the lattitude,
climate, growing season, and limestone soils are very similar to the Burgundy
region of France.
During 2004 and the beginning of
2005, pinot noir became considerably more popular amongst consumers in the United
States of America, Australia, New Zealand
and Asia. Being
lighter in style, it has benefitted from a trend toward more restrained, less
alcoholic wines. Pinot noir was also heavily featured in the 2004 film Sideways. [2]. In
the film, the main character Miles describes pinot to his love interest:
"It's a hard grape to grow
... it's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early ... it's not a survivor like
Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it's neglected. No,
pinot needs constant care and attention ... it can only grow in these really
specific, little, tucked-away corners of the world. And only the most patient
and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the
time to understand pinot's potential can then coax it into its fullest
expression."
And Robert Parker has described pinot noir in
Parker's Wine Buying Guide: "When it's great, pinot noir produces the most
complex, hedonistic, and remarkably thrilling red wine in the world..."