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Varietal ProfilePinot Noir 'Pea-no No-war
The great red Burgundy grape which gives its name to the Noirien family of grape varieties. Unlike a Cabernet Sauvignon, which can be grown in all but the coolest conditions and can be economically viable as an inexpensive but recognizably Cabernet wine, Pinot Noir demands much of both the vine-grower and wine-maker. It is a tribute to the unparalleled level of physical excitement generated by tasting one of Burgundy's better reds that such a high proportion of the world's most ambitious wine producers want to try their hand with this capricious vine. Although there is little consistency in its performance, Pinot Noir has been transplanted to almost every one of the world's wine regions, except the very hottest where it can so easily turn from essence to jam. If Cabernet produces wines to appeal to the head, Pinot's charms are decidedly more sensual and more transparent. The Burgundians themselves refute the allegations that they produce Pinot Noir; they merely use Pinot Noir as the vehicle for communicating local geography, the characteristics of the individual site on which it was planted. Perhaps the only characteristics that the Pinot Noir of the world could be said to share would be a certain sweet fruitiness and, in general, lower levels of tannins and pigments that the other 'great' red varieties Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. The wines are decidedly more charming in youth and evolve more rapidly, although the decline of the very best is slow. Pinot can taste of raspberries, strawberries, cherries and violets in youth, while ageing through more autumnal or spicy scents to something considerably more gamey after many years in bottle. Part of the reason for the wide variation in Pinot Noir's performance lies in its genetic make-up. It is a particularly old vine variety, in all probability a selection from wild vines made by man at least two millennia ago. There is some evidence that Pinot existed in Burgundy in the fourth century AD. Although Morillon Noir was the common name for early Pinot, a vine called Pinot Noir was already described in records of Burgundy in the 14th century and its fortunes were inextricably linked with those of the powerful medieval monasteries of eastern France and Germany. Pinot Noir has for long been grown in Burgundy, but it is particularly prone both to mutate (as witness Pinots Blanc, Gris and Meunier) and degenerate, as witness the multiplicity of Pinot Noir clones available even within France... ...Pinot Noir seems to produce the best quality wine on limestone soils and in relatively cool climates where this early ripening vine will not rush towards maturity, losing aroma and acidity. Pinot noir can be difficult to vinify, needing constant monitoring and fine tuning of technique according to the demands of each particular vintage. The trick is to leech colour and flavour but not too much tannin from these relatively thin-skinned grapes, although some wine-makers keep some stems in the fermentation vat in a soft year when they fear tannin levels are dangerously low. Pinot Noir is planted throughout eastern France and has been steadily gaining ground from less noble varieties so that by 1988 its total area of French vineyard was 22,000 ha/54,000 acres, twice as big as the total area planted with Pinot Meunier but less than Syrah's total - and considerably less than the total planted with Burgundy's other red vine variety Gamay because of the vast extent of the Beaujolais in comparison with the famous Cote d'Or Burgundian heartland... Excerpted
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