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Pinot noir

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Pinot noir
Grape(Vitis)
Pinot noir grapes inBué,Centre-Val de Loire,France
Color of berry skinBlack
Also calledBlauburgunder, Spätburgunder, Rulandské modré, Pinot nero,other synonyms
Notable regions
Notable winesGevrey-Chambertin,Nuits-Saint-Georges
Ideal soilChalky clay
VIVCnumber9279
Wine characteristics
GeneralLight tannins
Cool climateCabbage, wet leaves
Medium climateStrawberry, raspberry, cherry, mushroom, meaty
Romanée-Conti,among the world's most expensive wines, is made from Pinot noir.

Pinot noir(French:[pinonwaʁ]ⓘ), also known asPinot nero,is a red-winegrape varietyof the speciesVitis vinifera.The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from theFrenchwords forpineandblack.The wordpinealludes to the grape variety having tightly clustered, pinecone—shaped bunches of fruit.[1]

Pinot noir is grown around the world, mostly in cooler climates, and the variety is chiefly associated with theBurgundyregion ofFrance.[2]Pinot noir is now used to make red wines around the world, as well aschampagne,sparkling white winessuch as theItalianFranciacorta,andEnglish sparkling wines.Regions that have gained a reputation for red Pinot noir wines include theWillamette ValleyofOregon;theCarneros,Central Coast,Sonoma Coast,andRussian River AVAsofCalifornia;theElginandWalker Baywine regions ofSouth Africa;theMornington Peninsula,Adelaide Hills,Great Southern,Tasmania,andYarra ValleyinAustralia;and theCentral Otago,Martinborough,andMarlboroughwine regions ofNew Zealand.Pinot noir is the most plantedvarietal(38%) used insparkling wine productioninChampagneand other wine regions.[3]

Pinot noir is a difficult variety to cultivate and transform into wine.[4]The grape's tendency to produce tightly packed clusters makes it susceptible to severalviticultural hazardsinvolving rot that require diligentcanopy management.The thin skins and low levels ofphenolic compoundslend pinot to producing mostlylightly colored,medium-bodiedand low-tanninwines that can often go through phases of uneven and unpredictableaging.When young, wines made from Pinot noir tend to have red fruitaromasof cherries, raspberries, and strawberries. As the wine ages, Pinot has the potential to develop more vegetal and "barnyard" aromas that can contribute to the complexity of the wine.[3]

Cruel Mistress is an Australian Pinot noir from Pemberton in the state of Western Australia.

Description[edit]

Pinot noir grapes atSantenay,in Burgundy

Pinot noir's home is France'sBurgundyregion, particularlyCôte-d'Or.It is also planted in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, northern parts of Croatia, Czech Republic, England, the Republic of Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Hungary, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, New Zealand, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine, United States, and Uruguay. The United States has increasingly become a major Pinot noir producer, with some of the best regarded coming from Oregon'sWillamette Valley,and California'sSonoma Countywith itsRussian River ValleyandSonoma Coastappellations. Lesser-known appellations are found in Mendocino County'sAnderson Valley,the Central Coast'sSanta Lucia Highlandsappellation, theSanta Maria Valley,andSta. Rita HillsAmerican Viticulture Area in Santa Barbara County. In New Zealand, it is principally grown inMartinborough,Marlborough,Waipara,andCentral Otago.

The leaves of Pinot noir are generally smaller than those ofCabernet SauvignonorSyrah.The vine is typically less vigorous than either of these varieties. The grape cluster is small and conico-cylindrical, shaped like apinecone.Some viticultural historians believe this shape similarity may have given rise to the name.[5]In the vineyard, Pinot noir is sensitive to wind and frost, cropping levels (it must be low yielding for the production of quality wines), soil types, and pruning techniques. In the winery, it is sensitive to fermentation methods andyeast strainsand is highly reflective of itsterroir,with different regions producing very different wines. Its thin skin makes it susceptible tobunch rotand similar fungal diseases. The vines themselves are susceptible topowdery mildew,especially in Burgundy infection by leaf roll, andfanleafviruses cause significant vine health problems. These complications have given the grape a reputation for being difficult to grow:Jancis Robinsoncalls pinot a "minx of a vine"[6]andAndré Tchelistcheffdeclared that "God made cabernet sauvignon whereas the devil made Pinot noir".[6]It is much less tolerant of harsh vineyard conditions than the likes of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah,MerlotorGrenache.

A Burgundy Pinot noir

However, Pinot noir wines are among the most popular in the world. Joel L. Fleishman ofVanity Fairdescribes them 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".[7]Master SommelierMadeline Triffoncalls them "sex in a glass".[7]

The tremendously broad range ofbouquets,flavors, textures, and impressions that Pinot noir can produce sometimes confuses tasters.[5]Broadly, the wines tend to be of light to mediumbodywith an aroma reminiscent of black and/or redcherry,raspberryand to a lesser extentcurrantand many other fine small red and black berry fruits. Traditional red Burgundy is famous for its savory fleshiness and "farmyard" aromas (this latter is sometimes associated withthioland 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 ofgarnet,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 skinanthocyanin(coloring matter) content than most other classical red/black varieties.Callistephin,the 3-O-glucoside of pelargonidin, an orange-colored anthocyanidin, is also found in the berry skins of Pinot noir.[8]

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 worldMalbec) in depth, extract, and alcoholic content.

Pinot noir is also used in the production ofChampagne(usually along withChardonnayandPinot 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-yieldingand of lesser vigor 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 forroséstill wines,Beaujolais Nouveau-styled wines, and evenvin griswhite wines. Its juice is uncolored.

History, mutants and clones[edit]

Pinot gris (center) and Pinot blanc (right) are color mutations of Pinot noir (left).

Pinot noir is almost certainly a very ancient variety that may be only one or two generations removed from wild Vitis sylvestris vines.[9]Its origins are nevertheless unclear: InDe re rustica,Columelladescribes a grape variety similar to Pinot noir in Burgundy during the 1st century CE;[5][10]however, vines have grown wild as far north as Belgium in the days beforephylloxera,and it is possible that pinot represents a direct domestication of (hermaphrodite-flowered)Vitis sylvestris.

Ferdinand Regner argued[11]that Pinot noir is a cross betweenPinot Meunier(Schwarzriesling) andTraminer,but this claim has since been refuted.[5]In fact, Pinot Meunier has been shown to be a chimericalmutation(in the epidermal cells) which makes the shoot tips and leaves prominently hairy-white and the vine a little smaller and early ripening.[12]Thus, Pinot Meunier is achimerawith two tissue layers of different genetic makeup, both of which contain a mutation making them non-identical to, and mutations of, Pinot noir (as well as of any of the other color forms of pinot). As such, Pinot Meunier cannot be a parent of Pinot noir, and, indeed, it seems likely that chimerical mutations which can generate Pinot gris from other pinot (principally blanc or noir) may in turn, be the genetic pathway for the emergence of Pinot Meunier.

Pinot grisis a pinot colorsport(and can arise by mutation of Pinot noir or Pinot blanc), presumably representing a somatic mutation in either the VvMYBA1 or VvMYBA2 genes that control grape berry color.Pinot blancis a further mutation and can either naturally arise from or give rise to Pinot gris or Pinot noir; the mutation-reversion path is multi-directional, therefore. The generalDNA profilesof both Pinot gris and blanc are identical to Pinot noir;[13]and other Pinots, Pinot mour, and Pinot teinturier are also genetically similarly close. Almost any given Pinot (of whatever berry color) can occur as a complete mutation or as a chimera of almost any other pinot.[14]As such, suggestions that Pinot noir is the fundamental and original form of the Pinots are both misleading and highly tendentious. Indeed, if anything, Pinot blanc may be the original human-selected form of Pinot, although given the genetic variability of this longstanding genetic line, thinking of Pinot as a familial cluster of grapes sharing a fundamental and common genetic core is almost certainly nearest the truth. It is this core around which the sub-varietally identifying color variations (blanc, rouge, noir, gris, rose, violet, tenteurier, moure, etc.) occur, along with the more striking chimeric morphological mutation that is Pinot Meunier, and the interesting further mutations of this variety as Pinot Meunier gris and as the non-hairy mutation which the Germans classify as 'Samtrot' (effectively 'Pinot red velvet').

Pinot noir vines at Clos de Bèze,Gevrey-Chambertin,onBurgundy'sCôte d'Or

A white berried sport of Pinot noir was propagated in 1936 by Henri Gouges of Burgundy, and there is now 2.5ha planted of this grape which Clive Coates[15]calls Pinot Gouges, and others call Pinot Musigny. There is, however, no published evidence, nor any obvious reason, to believe that this is other than a (possibly quite fine) form of Pinot blanc, having simply arisen as a selected natural mutation of the original Pinot noir in the Gouges' vineyard.

In the UK, the name 'Wrotham Pinot' is a permitted synonym for Pinot Meunier and stems from a vine that one of the pioneers ofUK viticulture,Edward Hyams, discovered in Wrotham (pronounced 'root-am' or 'root-em') inKentin the late 1940s. It was, in all probability, the variety known as 'Miller's Burgundy,' which had been widely grown on walls and in gardens in Great Britain for many years. Archibald Barron writing in his book,Vines and Vine Culture,the standard Victorian work on grape growing in the UK, states that the 'Millers Burgundy' also wasfound by[the famous horticulturalist]Sir Joseph Banks in the remains of an ancient vineyard at Tortworth,Gloucestershire– a county well known for its medieval vineyards.Hyams took the vine to Raymond Barrington Brock, who ran what was to become the Oxted Viticultural Research Station, and he trialed it alongside the many other varieties he grew. Brock said that when compared to supplies of Meunier from France, Wrotham Pinot: had a higher natural sugar content and ripened two weeks earlier. Hyams, ever the journalist in search of a good story, claimed that this vine had been left behind by theRomans,although he provided absolutely no evidence for this. Brock sold cuttings of 'Wrotham Pinot,' and the variety became quite popular in early English "revival" vineyards in the late twentieth century, although it is unlikely that many vines from the cuttings supplied by Brock survive in any present UK vineyards. Indeed, despite the fact that today virtually all plantings of Meunier in the UK stem from French and German nurseries, the name Wrotham Pinot is still a legally acceptable synonym for this variety, although little, if ever, used by UK growers.

Pinot noir can be particularly prone to mutation (suggesting it has activetransposable elements), and thanks to its long history in cultivation, there are hundreds of differentclonesin vineyards and vine collections worldwide. More than 50 are officially recognized in France compared to only 25 of the much more widely plantedCabernet Sauvignon.[16]The French Etablissement National Technique pour l'Amelioration de la Viticulture (ENTAV) has set up a program to select the best clones of Pinot. This program has succeeded in increasing the number of quality clones available to growers. In the new world, particularly in Oregon, wines of extraordinary quality continue to be made from the (ex-University of California at Davis) Pommard (principally UCD4) and Wadensvil (UCD 1A and/or 2A) clones.[5]

Gamay Beaujolaisis a Californian misnomer for a UCD clone series of upright-growing ('Pinot Droit') Pinot noir. Planted mostly in California it also became established inNew Zealand.[17]In New Zealand, its disposition to poor fruit set in cool-flowering conditions can be problematic. It has been claimed that the 'Gamay Beaujolais' Pinot noir was brought to California by Paul Masson.[18]But it was collected in France by Harold Olmo for UCD in the 1950s and was one of the first Pinot Noir vines this institution offered as a high-health clonal line from about 1962 onward. However, it was misleadingly identified at UCD as a 'Gamay Beaujolais' type (of Pinot noir). In general, these upright growing 'Pinot Droit' clones are highly productive (in suitable, hot-to-warm, flowering conditions) and in California and New Zealand, they give robust, burly wines favored by those who like muscle rather than charm and velvety finesse in their Pinot noir wines.[citation needed]In Burgundy, the use of (highly productive) Pinot Droit clones is reportedly still widespread in inferior, Village appellation, or even non-appellation vineyards, and Pinot Droit is consequently regarded, arguably with very good reason, as a (genetic) sub-form significantly inferior to classical, decumbent, 'Pinot fine' or 'Pinot tordu', clonal lines of Pinot.

Frühburgunder(Pinot Noir Précoce) is an early-ripening form of Pinot noir.[19]Across the Pinot family, ripening in typical climates can be dispersed by as much as four, and even six weeks between the very earliest (including Précoce) clones and the very latest ripening. Virus infection and excessive cropping significantly add to the delaying of Pinot noir ripening.

Gouget noiris sometimes confused as being a clone of Pinot noir but, DNA analysis has confirmed that it is a distinct variety.[20]

In August 2007, a consortium of researchers,[21]announced the sequencing of the genome of Pinot noir.[22]It is the firstfruitcrop to be sequenced, and only the fourth flowering plant.

Crosses[edit]

A sparkling Crémant de BourgogneBlanc de Noirs(white from blacks) made from Pinot noir and Gamay

In theMiddle Ages,the nobility and church of northeast France grew some form of Pinot in favored plots, while peasants grew a large amount of the much more productive, but otherwise distinctly inferior,Gouais blanc.Cross-pollination may have resulted from such close proximity, with the genetic distance between the two parents impartinghybrid vigorleading to the viticultural selection of a diverse range of offspring from this cross (which may, nevertheless, have also resulted from deliberate human intervention). In any case, however, it occurred; offspring of the Pinot–Gouais cross include:Chardonnay,Aligoté,Auxerrois,Gamay,Melonand eleven others.[13]Pinot noir was not necessarily the Pinot involved here; any member of the Pinot family appears genetically capable of being the Pinot parent to these ex-Gouais crosses.

In 1925, Pinot noir was crossed inSouth Africawith theCinsautgrape (known locally by the misnomer 'Hermitage') to create a unique variety calledPinotage.

Regions[edit]

Argentina[edit]

Pinot noir is produced in the wine-growing regions ofMendoza(particularly in the Uco Valley),[23]Patagonia,Neuquén ProvinceandRío Negro Province.

Australia[edit]

Pinot noir is produced in several wine-growing areas of Australia, notably in theSouthern Highlandsin New South Wales,Yarra Valley,Geelong,theBellarine Peninsula,Beechworth,SouthGippsland,Sunbury,Macedon RangesandMornington Peninsulain Victoria,Adelaide Hillsin South Australia,Great Southern Wine Regionin Western Australia, all Tasmania, and theCanberra Districtin the Australian Capital Territory.

Best's Wines in Great Western has what is believed to have some of the world's oldest Pinot noir plantings—having survived phyloxera, these vines were planted in 1868.[citation needed]

Austria[edit]

In Austria, Pinot noir is usually called Blauburgunder (literally Blue Burgundy) and produced inBurgenlandandLower Austria.Austrian Pinot noir wines are dry red wines similar in character to the red wines of Burgundy, mostly aged in Frenchbarriques.Some of the best Austrian Pinots come from Neusiedlersee and Blaufraenkischland (Burgenland), and Thermenregion (Lower Austria).

Canada[edit]

Pinot noir has been grown in Ontario for some time in theNiagara Peninsulaand especially theNiagara-on-the-LakeandShort Hills Benchwine regions, as well as inPrince Edward Countyand on the north shore ofLake Ontario.It has also been grown recently in theOkanagan;here it is grown predominantly on the Naramata bench and in the northern Okanagan,Lower Mainland,andVancouver Islandwine regions ofBritish Columbia.It is also grown in theAnnapolis Valleyregion of Nova Scotia and the Lanaudière and Brome-Missisquoi regions of Quebec.

Chile[edit]

An example from Leyda Valley, Chile

Pinot noir is produced at the Leyda Valley, one of the minor wine districts of theAconcagua wine region of Chileand in the southern districtBiobio.

UK[edit]

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.[citation needed]

France[edit]

A Sancerre rouge from the Loire Valley made from Pinot noir

Pinot noir has made France'sBurgundyappellationfamous, 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'sValoisdukes. Roger Dion, in his thesis regardingPhilip the Bold's role in promoting the spread of Pinot noir, holds that the reputation ofBeaunewines as "the finest in the world" was a propaganda triumph of Burgundy's Valois dukes.[24]In any event, the worldwide archetype for Pinot noir is that grown inBurgundy,where it has been cultivated since 100 AD. Burgundy is the most northerly good red wine growing district in the World.[25]

Burgundy's Pinot noir produces wines that can age well in good years, developing complex fruit and forest floor flavors as they age, often reaching peak 15 or 20 years after the vintage. Many of the wines are produced in small quantities. Today, theCôte d'Or escarpmentof Burgundy has about 4,500 hectares (11,000 acres) of Pinot noir. Most of the region's finest wines are produced from this area. TheCôte ChalonnaiseandMâconnaisregions in southern Burgundy have another 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres).

InJura département,across the river valley from Burgundy, the wines made from Pinot noir are lighter.

InChampagneit is used in blending withChardonnayandPinot Meunier.It can also appear unblended; in which case it may be labeledBlanc de Noirs.TheChampagneappellation has more Pinot planted than any other area of France.

InSancerreit is used to make red androséwines, much lighter in style than those of Burgundy, refreshing served chilled, especially in warmer years when they are less thin.

InAlsaceit is generally used to makePinot-noir d'Alsace[fr],similar in character to red Burgundy and Beaujolais wines but usually consumed chilled. Prominent examples are Rouge de Barr andRouge d'Ottrott.Pinot noir is the only red wine produced in Alsace.

Germany[edit]

A GermanBlanc de Noirsfrom the Baden region made from Pinot noir grapes pressed quickly after harvest to produce a white wine from the red grapes

Among countries planted with Pinot noir, Germany ranks third behind France and the United States.[26]InGermanyit is called Spätburgunder (lit. 'Late Burgundian') and is now the most widely planted red grape.[27]Historically much German wine produced from Pinot noir was pale, often rosé like the red wines ofAlsace;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 asBaden,Palatinate(Pfalz) andAhr.These are rarely exported and are often expensive in Germany for the better examples. In the weekend edition of the "Financial Times" of 21/22 April 2018 Jancis Robinson wrote about... alternatives to red burgundy[28]As "Rhenish", German Pinot noir is mentioned several times in Shakespearean plays as a highly prized wine.[29]

There is also a smaller-berried, early ripening, lower yield variety called Frühburgunder (Pinot Noir Précoce;lit. 'Early Burgundian'), which is grown inRheinhessenandAhrarea and can produce good wines.

Italy[edit]

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 andTrentino.It is also planted in Tuscany. InSouth Tyrolthe 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. The first analytical descriptions are from Edmund Mach (founder ofIst. Agr. San Michele a.A.) in the year 1894: Friedrich Boscarolli - Rametz/Meran - Rametzer Burgunder 1890, Chorherrenstift Neustift - Blauburgunder 1890, R.v.Bressendorf - Vernaun/Meran - Burgunder 1890, C. Frank - Rebhof Gries Bozen - Burgunder 1889, Fr. Tschurtschenthaler - Bozen - Burgunder 1890 & 1891, Fr. Tschurtschenthaler - Bozen - Kreuzbichler 1889 & 1891 & 1887.[30]

Moldova[edit]

Pinot noir grapes in a vineyard inMoldova

Large amounts of Pinot were planted in centralMoldovaduring the 19th century, but much was lost to the ravages ofphylloxera;Soviet control of Moldova from 1940 to 1991 also reduced the productivity of vineyards.

New Zealand[edit]

Pinot noir is New Zealand's largest red wine variety, and second largest variety overall behindSauvignon blanc.In 2014, Pinot noir vines covered 5,569 hectares (13,760 acres) and produced 36,500 tonnes of grapes.[31]

Pinot noir is a grape variety whose "importance" in New Zealand is extremely high. However, initial results were not promising for several reasons, including high levels of leaf roll virus in older plantings, and, during the 1960s and 1970s, the limited number and indifferent quality of Pinot noir clones available for planting. However, since this time importation of high-quality clones and much-improved viticulture and winemaking has seen Pinot noir, from Martinborough in the north to Central Otago in the south, become a major factor in New Zealand's reputation as a wine producer.[32]

Slovenia[edit]

InSlovenia,the Pinot noir is produced especially in theSlovenian Littoral,particularly in theGoriška Brdasub-region. In smaller amounts, the Pinot noir is also produced inSlovenian Styria. The wine is usually called Modri Pinot (Blue Pinot) or also Modri Burgundec (Blue Burgundy).

South Africa[edit]

With the growth of theSouth Africanwine industry into newer areas, Pinot noir is now also to be found in cool climateWalker BayandElgin,the two oldest Pinot regions in the country.

There are currently just over 1,200 ha of Pinot noir in South Africa, making up 1,5% of the total plantings in the country.

The Top 5 Pinot noir Wine Awards annually recognizes the top South African Pinot noir red wines.[33]

Spain[edit]

In Spain, Pinot noir is grown in many of the wine regions from the north to the south, but the vast majority of Pinot noir is grown inCatalonia,where it is used in still wines andCava,Spanish sparkling wine. It is an authorised variety in some of the Catalan DOPs. In 2015 there were 1,063 hectares (2,630 acres) of Pinot noir grown in Spain.

Switzerland[edit]

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, Zürich, St. Gallen and Bündner Herrschaft (Grisons). In Valais, Pinot noir is also blended withGamayto produce the well-known Dôle.

United States[edit]

A Pinot noir from the Willamette Valley in Oregon

By volume most Pinot noir in America is grown in California, with Oregon second in production.[34]Other growing regions are the states of Washington, Michigan, and New York.

California wine regions known for producing Pinot noir are:

Oregon wine regions known for producing Pinot noir:

Washington wine regions known for producing Pinot noir:

A Pinot noir from the Russian River Valley of California

Richard Sommers of HillCrest Vineyard in the Umpqua Valley of Oregon is the father of Oregon Pinot noir. An early graduate of UC Davis, Sommers moved north after graduation with the idea of planting Pinot noir in the Coastal valleys of Oregon. He brought cuttings to the state in 1959 and made his first commercial planting at HillCrest Vineyard in Roseburg Oregon in 1961. For this, he was honored by the Oregon State House of Representatives (HR 4A). In 2011 the State of Oregon honored him for this achievement and also for producing the first commercial bottling in the state in 1967. It was announced by the state of Oregon in the summer of 2012 that a historical marker would be placed at the winery in the summer of 2013.[35]

Sommers, who graduated from UC Davis in the early 1950s, brought Pinot noir cuttings to Oregon's Umpqua Valley in 1959 and planted them at HillCrest Vineyard in 1961. These first Pinot noir cuttings came from Louis Martinis Sr.'s Stanley Ranch located in the Carneros region of Napa Valley. The first commercial vintage from these grapes was the noted 1967 Pinot noir although test bottlings were made as early as 1963. In the 1970s several other growers followed suit. In 1979, David Lett took his wines to a competition in Paris, known in English as theWine Olympics,and they placed third among Pinots. In a 1980 rematch arranged by French wine magnateRobert Drouhin,the Eyrie vintage improved to second place. The competition established Oregon as a world-class Pinot noir-producing region.[36][37]

TheWillamette Valleyof 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 builtDomaine Drouhin Oregon,a state-of-the-art, gravity-fed winery. Throughout the 1980s, theOregon wine industryblossomed.

Blends[edit]

While Pinot noir is commonly blended in sparkling Champagne (with Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier), in still wines it is best-known as unblended, varietal wines; this is similar to Chardonnay, the other great variety of Burgundy. Some traditional blends of Pinot noir include:

Pinot noir may also be blended with other grapes in inexpensive varietal wines, where the Pinot noir percentage is high enough for a varietal labeling but is not 100% (75% in the United States, 85% in the European Union). Commonly a heavier grape like Syrah is used to add color and body, resulting in a wine rather unlike pure Pinot noir wines. This was traditionally done in Burgundy until the 1920s and is today found in California wine.[41]Similarly, it is sometimes blended withMalbec.[42]

Recent popularity[edit]

Being lighter in style, Pinot noir has benefited from a trend toward more restrained, less alcoholic wines around 12%alcohol by volume.

During 2004 and the beginning of 2005, Pinot noir became considerably more popular among consumers in the US, Australia, New Zealand and Asia as a result of the filmSideways,[43]and its deleterious effect onMerlotsales. Throughout the film, the main character speaks fondly of Pinot noir while denigrating Merlot.[44][45]Following the film's U.S. release in October 2004, Merlot sales dropped 2% while Pinot noir sales increased 16% in theWestern United States.While the film mainly celebrated California's Santa Barbara County, it also highlighted Oregon's Pinot Noirs.[46]A similar trend occurred in British wine outlets.[45][47][48][49][50][51]A 2009 study bySonoma State Universityfound thatSidewaysslowed the growth in Merlot sales volume and caused its price to fall, but the film's main effect on the wine industry was a rise in the sales volume and price of Pinot noir and in overall wine consumption.[52]A 2014 study by Vineyard Financial Associates estimated thatSidewayscost American Merlot farmers over US$400m in lost revenue in the decade after its release.[53]

Synonyms[edit]

Blauburgunder, Blauer Arbst, Blauer Spätburgunder, Burgunder, Cortaillod, Mário Feld, Mário Feld Tinto, Morillon, Morillon noir, Mourillon, Savagnin noir or Salvagnin noir.[20]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Etymologie de pineau".Centre Nationale de Ressounces Textuelles et Lexicales (in French).RetrievedNovember 3,2013.
  2. ^"Everything You Need To Know About Pinot Noir".Filled With Wine.September 23, 2020.RetrievedMay 29,2021.
  3. ^abWine & Spirits Education TrustWine and Spirits: Understanding Wine Qualitypp. 6–9, Second Revised Edition (2012), London.ISBN978-1-905819-15-7.
  4. ^Robinson 2006.
  5. ^abcdeHaeger 2004.
  6. ^abHaeger 2004,p. 19.
  7. ^abHaeger 2004,p. 20.
  8. ^He, F.; He, J.-J.; Pan, Q.-H.; Duan, C.-Q. (2010)."Mass-spectrometry evidence confirming the presence of pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside in the berry skins of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir (Vitis vinifera L.)".Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research.16(3): 464–468.doi:10.1111/j.1755-0238.2010.00107.x.
  9. ^Graves, David (2006)."On Varietal Origins: A Chat Between Wavey & The Professor".Archived fromthe originalon July 15, 2011.
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Bibliography[edit]

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