Pinot noir red wine full#

Pinot noir red wine full#

Full and opulent, the wines are finely perfumed with cherry-scents and sweet, jammy, raspberry flavours, backed by gentle tannins. Sonoma County's Russian River Valley viticultural area produces some of the finest examples of Californian pinot noir. The rolling sea fogs sufficiently shroud the key vineyard sites with a cool atmosphere to capture the variety's capricious nature. Head down Highway 1 and you reach the Oregon border with California and the American heartland of pinot noir production.Īs with Oregon, the cooling influence of the Pacific Ocean plays a major role in maintaining and developing the fresh, fruity delicacy of pinot noir. The palate is pure and fresh with spicy notes that linger on the finish. The structure is pleasing with a well-crafted balance of acidity, tannin and alcohol. The wines of Oregon are plump and fleshy with fruit aromas, predominantly of ripe cherries. With its thin skin, pinot noir has the ability to achieve not only ripeness but also complexity. It is a marginal climate and the choice of vine variety and site selection is fundamental. Rainfall is plentiful but, crucially, does not usually fall heavily during harvest time.

Located on the Pacific North-West, the majority of vineyards are exposed to the marine airflow off the Pacific Ocean. With maturity comes complexity and some wines have the capability of developing very intriguing aromas and flavours ranging from ripe, jam fruits to game, tobacco and truffles, with wines often being redolent of sous-bois, or undergrowth, accompanied by velvety, soft tannins.Ĭalifornia is the shining light in terms of American pinot noir but the state of Oregon, and the Willamette Valley in particular, is home to some finely crafted, excellent pinot noirs. In youth, the wines show vibrant, fresh raspberry and cherry aromas, fleshy in body, refreshing in acidity and with gentle, soft tannins. Fermenation and maceration times vary and oak-ageing can alter radically there are no set rules and each domaine has its own idiosyncrasies. Each wine is a reflection of the owner's wine philosophy and, with so many owners, the styles of wine are many and varied. The Côte d'Or is considered to be the finest area of production in Burgundy and its northern section of Côtes de Nuits is the heartland. These wines offer the best in terms of style, quality and ageing potential. All of the red grands crus can be found in the Cote de Nuits save one, that of Corton. The wines generally have better ageing potential but do not challenge the potential of the communes.Īt the peak of the appellation hierarchy are the communes and their premier cru or grand cru vineyards. These wines offer more elegance, complexity and intensity with the perfumed character being more apparent. Ideally, these should be drunk young and fresh.Īt a district level, the word Bourgogne is dropped and the district name stands alone, Côte de Nuits Villages AC and Côte de Beaune Villages AC, for example. Wines at this regional level are of red fruit character, low in tannins and with sappy, fruity acidity. Even in difficult years a good grower will turn out honourable wines.īurgundy's Clos de Vougeot vineyard is famous not just for its exquisite wines but for the number (80) of growers who own vines within its walls.The regional level AC will have the word bourgogne in the title Bourgogne AC and Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits AC. It is therefore essential to know the merits, or otherwise, of the individual owner the grower is almost always more important than appellation.Ī good grower will make lovely wines from modest vineyards and superb ones from great vineyards, whereas a bad one will make a terrible wine even from a great vineyard. For added complication, each vineyard may be split amongst a number of owners (a throw-back to the Napoleonic laws of inheritance), with each owner creating his own style of pinot noir wine. Each vineyard then has its place in the AC hierarchy. In Burgundy, a vineyard name is attached to a specific plot of land where the size can not be altered.

In Bordeaux, a château name is largely a trademark that can increase or decrease in size, as the owner purchases land. The appellation structure in Burgundy is at best complicated and, at worse, baffling. It does however, result in considerable vintage variation. The preference towards early-ripening means pinot is well-suited to a region with a relatively short ripening season.

The continental climate is marginal in terms of grape ripening, with substantial rainfall often during flowering and harvesting times. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in Burgundy. Its quality is defined by climate and terroir with neighbouring vineyard sites producing phenomenally different wines. Pinot noir is notoriously fickle at ripening with considerable vintage variation.