The Corkscrew | What makes pinot noir the king of grapes?

If there is one grape that can make a wine geek swoon, it is the pinot noir.

Considered an ancient variety, the first record of pinot noir is in Columella's Res Rustica, a 12-volume agricultural text compiled in the days of the Roman empire. Since then, numerous mutations have arisen as the grape has adapted to different environments (terroir) - France alone recognises more than 50.

The grape, however, is notoriously difficult to grow - it has a thin skin, which makes it susceptible to a number of maladies, such as powdery mildew, bunch rot and fungal disease. It is also fussy about where it will grow. Many wine buffs would say it is best suited to Burgundy, in France, where the grape has a long history of being nurtured by monks, who made careful note of the sites that have historically produced particularly good wines.

Other places where the grape thrives include parts of the United States, particularly in the Willamette Valley, in Oregon, and the Russian River Valley (part of Sonoma County, in California); New Zealand - especially in Central Otago and Martinborough; and Australia, in Tasmania and the Mornington Peninsula. These New World versions of pinot noir tend to show more vivid cherry fruit and a more generous touch of oak.

Pinot noir is also an integral part of many champagnes, along with chardonnay and pinot meunier grapes.

The crème de la crème of pinot noir, however, does tend to come from Burgundy: the wines of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti come to mind, with its holy trinity of the Échezeaux, La Tache and Richebourg vineyards. Wines from all of these sell for astronomical sums, the rarest being the 1945 Romanée-Conti, of which only 608 bottles were made - roughly the equivalent of two barrels' worth.