ONE MINUTE WINE ACE: Pinot Noir
It’s Pinot Noir Day and to celebrate, here’s my Vinalogy for the grape: If Pinot Noir were a character, it’d be a prima ballerina…
The lights are down in this beautiful ornate building as we watch the Royal Ballet perform Giselle. Swathes of lithe, professional dancers gracefully cross a floor obscured by soft smoke from the dry ice. Giselle appears, fine-boned and elegant in a flowing, cherry-red dress made of silk. She dances barefoot on the earth among the vines, her movements hauntingly beautiful. The way she can make the complex twists and turns seem so effortless is mesmerising.
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Light-bodied and elegant, Pinot Noir can be a bit of a diva to work with thanks to its very thin skin, which is why it’s often called the heartbreak grape. When all conditions are perfect and the masters get hold of it however, then oh boy, it’s good! Pale cherry red in colour, with refreshingly high acidity and very low, silky tannins, Pinot can taste like a red wine but feel like a white, which is part of its universal charm. Couple this with an unrivalled complexity that comes with age and an ethereal, earthy perfume of spiced red fruit, lavender and raspberry compote and you’ll understand why people spend crazy amounts on the top bottles.
Geek Fact! Pinot Noir is also one of the three main grapes used in Champagne, along with Chardonnay and the red, third grape in the trilogy: Pinot Meunier. So if you have a ‘Blancs de Noir’ Champagne, it will have been made with these two red grapes only and sometimes, just Pinot Noir.
PINOT NOIR SIPS SAFARI
Below are the key places to compare Pinot Noir wines from to get a measure of its style. For a long list of world Pinot recommendations however, CLICK HERE!
Pinot Noir 1: Burgundy, France
You can’t do Pinot Noir without heading to Burgundy (Bourgogne), France, Pinot’s original home. Top-end red Burgundies are usually made with 100% Pinot Noir and are often best with a few years of age on them. Think spicy cherry and lavender flavours with a marzipan note. They’re delicate, earthy, understated and old school in style. It is here that they reach their most complex and elegant expressions.
Pinot Noir 2: Willamette Valley, Oregon
Willamette Valley in Oregon has recently taken the New World Pinot crown, gaining a distinct reputation for some of the most elegant and Burgundian-style Pinot Noirs outside of Burgundy itself. It’s the cool climate and long ripening season that gives it a similar high acidity with a focus on earthy savoury flavours.
Pinot Noir 3: Central Otago, New Zealand
Central Otago in New Zealand is one of the other, classic destinations for great ‘New World’ Pinot. Here, it’s easy drinking, yet serious with more concentrated notes of black cherry and spiced plum fruit, often with a cool minerality freshening everything up.
Also try:
Like many of the other especially famous grapes, Pinot Noir has certainly got around, finding favour in cool spots everywhere, from Sonoma and Santa Barbara in California, to Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley in Australia, Marlborough New Zealand, Pfalz, Germany and England, just to name a few!
See a list of 12 interntaional Pinot Noir wines to try here…
Pinot Noir is…
🎨 Pale, cherry red
🏋️♂️ Light-bodied with fine, silky tannins
👃 All about red cherry and spiced raspberry
📍 A star grape in Burgundy, France but famous worldwide
🍴 Loves duck and lamb dishes as well as hard nutty cheese
Like this? See my One Minute Wine Ace guide to Chardonnay
Or my Vinalogy guide to Sauvignon Blanc
There’s also this piece on the wine icon that is Whispering Angel
Thanks for reading!
H x