Pinot Noir

Long associated with the Burgundy region of France, Pinot noir grapes are grown around the world, mostly in the cooler regions. It's a difficult variety to cultivate but produces some of the finest wines in the world. The name is derived from the French words for "pine" and "black" because of tightly clustered dark purple pine cone-shaped bunches of fruit.
 

France's Burgundy region is renowned for Pinot noir, particularly the Côte-d'Or which has produced some of the world's most celebrated wines for centuries.
 

The United States has increasingly become a major Pinot noir producer, with highly regarded wines coming from the Willamette Valley in Oregon and California's Sonoma County, especially the 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 Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. In New Zealand, it is grown in Martinborough, Waipara, and Central Otago.
 

Pinot noir sometimes confuses tasters with a broad range of bouquets, flavors, textures. The wine tends to be of light to medium body with an aroma reminiscent of black cherry, raspberry or currant. Traditional red Burgundy is famous for its fleshy, 'farmyard' aromas, but changing fashions and new easier-to-grow clones have favoured a lighter, fruitier style. The grape's color when young, often compared to that of garnet, is often much lighter than that of other red wines. However, an emerging style from California and New Zealand highlights a more powerful, fruit forward and darker wine that can approach syrah in depth.
 

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.
 

France
 

Pinot noir has made France's Burgundy appellation famous, and vice-versa. The worldwide archetype for Pinot noir is that grown in Burgundy where it has been cultivated since AD100. The quality of Bourgogne is due to a number of factors. Its vineyards slope toward the East, providing the vines with long sun exposure yet avoiding afternoon heat. The soil is very calcareous (chalky; containing calcium carbonate), offering good drainage. Well-drained soils have a higher average temperature, which assists ripening. Pinot noir seems to reflect more pronounced Gout de Terroir, or flavor of the soil, making vineyard site selection a critical factor.
 

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. Today, the celebrated Côte d’Or area 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 (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 labeled blanc de noirs. The Champagne appellation has more Pinot planted than any other area of France.
 

Burgundy is divided into Grand cru appellations, Communal appellations with premier cru climat, Communal appellations without premier cru climat and many Regional appellations. The Grands Crus of Burgundy include: Gevrey-Chambertin, Aloxe-Corton, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Flagey-Echézeaux and Vosne-Romanée. These represent the pinnacle of all Burgundy wines.


Some of the top Pinot noir domaines in Burgundy include: Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin; Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin; Domaine Dujac Morey-Saint-Denis; Georges Roumier Chambolle-Musigny; Comte de Vogue Chambolle-Musigny; Meo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanee; Anne Gros Vosne-Romanee; Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Vosne-Romanee; Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges; Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges; Domaine de Montille Pommard; Marquis d'Angerville Volnay; Michel Lafarge Volnay.
 

Top negociants include: Bouchard Pere et Fils; Joseph Drouhin; Faiveley; Louis Jadot; Maison Leroy.
 

California
 

Though Pinot noir in California ranges from light and fruity to rich and lush, an image still persists that California Pinot noir is a light, fruity wine that can not stand up to wines from Burgundy. California vintners have made great strides in the last tow decades and clonal selections, viticultural methods, and vinification techniques have increased their quality. California's most productive Pinot Noir appellations are much the same as for Chardonnay: Santa Maria Valley (Santa Barbara County); Russian River Valley (Sonoma County); Carneros (in both Sonoma and Napa Counties); Anderson Valley (Mendocino County); as well as the Pinnacles (Monterey County) and Santa Lucia Highlands (Monterey County).
 

Some of California's most notable Pinot noir producers include: Dehlinger, Ken Wright, Close Pepe, Flowers, W.H Smith, Morgan, Calera, Chasseur, Failla, Freeman, Gary Farrell, Macrostie, Saintsbury, Melville, Peay, Williams-Selyem, Joseph Swan, Au-Bon Climat, Sea Smoke, Foley, Eric Kent, Kosta Browne, Siduri, El Molino, Sanford and Davis Bynum.
 

Oregon
 

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 1970s. In 1979, Lett took his wines to a competition in Paris, known in English as the Wine Olympics, and they placed third among pinots. In a 1980 rematch arranged by French wine magnate Robert Drouhin, the Eyrie vintage improved to second place. The competition established Oregon 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 1980s, the Oregon wine industry blossomed.