Pinot noir is a red wine grape
variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created
predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French words
for pine and black; the pine alluding to the grape variety having tightly
clustered, pine cone-shaped bunches of fruit.
Pinot noir grapes are grown
around the world, mostly in the cooler regions, but the grape is chiefly
associated with the Burgundy region of France. Other regions that have gained a
reputation for Pinot noir include the Willamette Valley of Oregon, the
Carneros, Central Coast and Russian River AVAs of California, the Walker Bay
wine region of South Africa, Tasmania and Yarra Valley in Australia and the
Central Otago, Martinborough and Marlborough wine regions of New Zealand. Pinot
noir is also a primary variety used in sparkling wine production in Champagne
and other wine regions.
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. The grape's tendency to produce tightly
packed clusters makes it susceptible to several viticultural hazards involving
rot that require diligent canopy management. The thin-skins and low levels of
phenolic compounds lends Pinot to producing mostly lightly colored, medium
bodied low tannin wines that can often go through dumb phases with uneven and
unpredictable aging. When young, wines made from Pinot noir tend to have red
fruit aromas of cherries, raspberries and strawberries. As the wines age,
Pinots have the potential to develop vegetal and "barnyard" aromas
that can contribute to the complexity of the wine.
Description
Pinot noir's home is France's
Burgundy region, particularly in Côte-d'Or. It is also planted in Austria,
Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, north parts of Croatia, the Republic of
Georgia, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Kosova, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova,
Greece, Romania, New Zealand, South Africa, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland,
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, United States, Uruguay, Ukraine and Slovakia. The
United States has increasingly become a major Pinot noir producer, with some of
the best regarded coming from the Willamette Valley in Oregon and California's
Sonoma County with its Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations.
Lesser known appellations can be found in Mendocino County's Anderson Valley as
well as the Central Coast's Santa Lucia Highlands appellation and the Sta. Rita
Hills American Viticultural Area in Santa Barbara County. In New Zealand, it is
principally grown in Martinborough, Marlborough, Waipara and Central Otago.
The leaves of Pinot noir are
generally smaller than those of Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah and the vine is
typically less vigorous than either of these varieties. The grape cluster is
small and conico-cylindrical, vaguely shaped like a pine cone. Some
viticultural historians believe this shape-similarity may have given rise to
the name. In the vineyard Pinot noir is sensitive to wind and frost, cropping
levels (it must be low yielding for production of quality wines), 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 sometimes very different wines. Its thin skin makes it susceptible to
bunch rot and similar fungal diseases of the bunch. The vines themselves are
susceptible to powdery mildew, and in Burgundy (and elsewhere) infection by
leaf roll and fanleaf viruses causes significant vine health problems. These
complications have given the grape a reputation for 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." It is much less tolerant of hard, windy, hot and dry,
harsh vineyard conditions than the likes of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot,
or Grenache.
A Burgundy Pinot noir.
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 and / or red cherry,
raspberry and to a lesser extent currant and many other fine small red and
black berry fruits. Traditional red Burgundy is famous for its savory
fleshiness and 'farmyard' aromas (these latter sometimes associated with
mercaptans and other reductive characters), but changing fashions, modern
winemaking techniques, and new easier-to-grow clones have favored a lighter,
more fruit-prominent, cleaner style. The wine's color when young is often
compared to that of garnet, frequently being much lighter than that of other
red wines. This is entirely natural and not a winemaking fault as Pinot noir
has a lower skin anthocyanin (coloring matter) content than most other
classical red / black varieties. However, an emerging, increasingly evident,
style from California and New Zealand highlights a more powerful, fruit forward
and darker wine that can tend toward Syrah (or even new world Malbec) in depth,
extract, and alcoholic content.
Pinot noir 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 of lesser vigour than many other varieties, whereas when grown
for use in sparkling wines (e.g. Champagne) it is generally cropped at
significantly higher yields.
In addition to being used for
the production of sparkling and still red wine, Pinot noir is also sometimes
used for rosé still wines, Beaujolais Nouveau-styled wines, and even vin gris
white wines. Its juice is uncolored.
Regions
Australia
Pinot noir is produced in
several wine growing areas of Australia, notably in the Southern Highlands in
New South Wales, Yarra Valley, Geelong, the Bellarine Peninsula, Beechworth,
South Gippsland, Sunbury, Macedon Ranges and Mornington Peninsula in Victoria,
Adelaide Hills in South Australia, Great Southern Wine Region in Western
Australia, all Tasmania, and the Canberra District in the Australian Capital
Territory.
Austria
In Austria, Pinot noir is
sometimes 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, mostly aged in French
barriques. Some of the best Austrian Pinots come from Neusiedlersee and
Blaufraenkischland, (Burgenland) and Thermenregion (Lower Austria).
Canada
Quality Pinot noir has been
grown in Ontario for some time in the Niagara Peninsula and especially the
Niagara-on-the-Lake and Short Hills Bench wine regions, as well as in Prince
Edward County and on the north shore of Lake Ontario. It has also been grown
recently in the Okanagan, Lower Mainland, and Vancouver Island wine regions of
British Columbia, the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia and the Lanaudière
and Brome-Missisquoi regions of Quebec.
UK
Pinot noir is increasingly being
planted in the U.K. and is now the second most widely planted variety, (305-ha
in 2012) almost all of it for sparkling wine. In good years, red wines can be
made and these are very good. More usually, attractive rose wines are made. For
UK sparkling wine, Pinot noir is considered essential for top quality.
France
Pinot noir has made France's
Burgundy appellation famous, and vice-versa. 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 AD 100.
Burgundy's Pinot noir produces
great wines which can age very well in good years, developing complex fruit and
forest floor 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. Today, the celebrated Côte d'Or escarpment 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 Chalonnaise and Mâconnais regions
in southern Burgundy have another 4,000 hectares (9,900 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 labeled blanc de noirs. The Champagne appellation has more
Pinot planted than any other area of France.
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 Pinot-noir d'Alsace, a varietal rosé wine. 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. Lack of acidity and complexity often
prevent Alsatian pinot noir from achieving anything more than pleasant, easy
drinking, quality levels.
Germany
A German blanc de noir from
the Baden region made from Pinot noir grapes pressed quickly after harvest in
order to produce a white wine from the red grapes.
In Germany it is called
Spätburgunder (lit. "Late Burgundian"), 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, and very simple; over-cropping and bunch-rot were major contributing
factors to this. However, recently, despite the northerly climate, darker,
richer reds have been produced, often barrel (barrique) aged, in regions such
as Baden, Palatinate (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.
There is also a
smaller-berried, early ripening, lower yield variety called Frühburgunder
(Pinot Noir Précoce, lit. "Early Burgundian") which is grown in
Rheinhessen and Ahr area and can produce very good wines. In the last 20 years
or so, serious efforts have been made to develop and husband good quality high
health clones of Frühburgunder selected from Württemberg vineyards, and the
future of this form of Pinot noir in Germany consequently looks promising.
Italy
In Italy, where Pinot noir is
known as Pinot nero, it has traditionally been cultivated in South Tyrol, the
Collio Goriziano, Franciacorta, Oltrepò Pavese, Veneto, Friuli and Trentino. It
is also planted in Tuscany.
In South Tyrol the variety is
first noted 1838 as "Bourgoigne noir" in a grape wine buy list of the
"k.u.k. Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft von Tirol und Vorarlberg,
Niederlassung Bozen" and later called "Blauburgunder" like in
Austria.
Moldova
Large amounts of Pinot were
planted in central Moldova during the 19th century, but much was lost to the
ravages of phylloxera; Soviet control of Moldova from 1940 to 1991 also reduced
the productivity of vineyards.
New Zealand
Typically, New Zealand Pinot
noir is fruit-driven, forward, and early maturing in the bottle. Alcohol levels
are markedly higher than for Burgundies, and natural acidity lower. Many New
Zealand pinot noir producers leave their fruit on the vine much longer than is
either possible or acceptable in Burgundian vineyards, and plummy flavours,
heavier textures, and consequently more Syrah-like wine structure, results.
Markedly, the wines tend to be quite full bodied (for the variety) and very
potable in their youth. High-quality examples of New Zealand Pinot noir,
particularly from the Martinborough region, are distinguished by savoury,
earthy flavours with a greater complexity. Central Otago Pinot noirs have
become characterised as "fruit bombs"—big, soft textured, wines, rich
in flavours like boysenberry and Blackboy peach, high in alcohol and low in
natural acid. More subtle, finer, examples are produced however, but they are
usually elite wines only. Tamarilo characters, which were prominent in the
above-mentioned St. Helena Pinot noir, continue to characterise many large
production Waipara Pinot noirs and most Canterbury ones as well. Specialist
producers in these co-mingled regions can surpass these limitations however,
and a range of wines, from burly, bold, tannic and dark new-world style "reserves",
to finer, more Burgundian-influenced Pinot noirs are now becoming more
prominent. Marlborough pinot noirs are often fragrant and appealingly round,
but can lack depth and proper tannin ripeness. Multi-area blends made by large
producers (usually blending Marlborough, Waipara, and Central Otago fruit) can
offer good value and good drinking at affordable prices.
Slovenia
In Slovenia, the pinot noir is
produced especially in the Slovenian Littoral, particularly in the Goriška Brda
sub-region. In smaller amounts, the Pinot noir is also produced in Slovenian
Styria. The wine is usually called Modri Pinot (Blue Pinot) or also Modri
Burgundec (Blue Burgundy).
Spain
Pinot noir has recently been
produced in small amounts in Lleida province, Catalonia, under the appellation
"Costers del Segre" DO.
Switzerland
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. In Valais, Pinot noir is also
blended with Gamay to produce the well known Dôle.
United States
By volume most Pinot noir in
America is grown in California, with Oregon coming in second. Other regions are
the states of Washington, Michigan, and New York.
California wine regions known
for producing Pinot noir are: Sonoma Coast, Russian River Valley AVA, Central
Coast AVA, Sta. Rita Hills, Monterey County/Santa Lucia Highlands, Santa Cruz
Mountains AVA, Carneros District of Napa and Sonoma, Anderson Valley, Livermore
Valley, San Luis Obispo County / Arroyo Grande Valley and Edna Valley.
Oregon wine region known for
producing Pinot noir: Willamette Valley AVA
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 1980s, the Oregon
wine industry blossomed.
Source: Wikipedia
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