Pinot Noir: The Fickle

Learn About Pinot Noir While you are an easy red wine to love, Pinot Noir, you are a difficult bastard in the vineyard. You are the epitome of fussy, having a bad reputation of not being consistent in all areas of production and because you are a low yielding wine grape, supply and demand causes you to come with a hefty price tag. While you are a noble grape, Pinot Noir, you are a very high maintenance red wine. You have been called genetically unstable with good reason. Possessing an estimated one thousand clones, your tendency to dramatically reflect the savor of the soil you’re grown in and your pristine growing requirements of a long growing season, makes you a frustrating character for a winemaker, Pinot Noir. This causes disloyalty from your drinkers as well, as you vary as much between vintages as you do in quality among varying regions. You have broad extremes in color, flavor and aroma. Yet wherever you are produced, Pinot Noir, you always possess one quality: texture and perfume. Okay, so that’s two qualities. Add particular to your profile. You do have very low tannin content that affords a crisp acidity and plush mouthfeel. I [...]