What makes pinot noir the king of grapes?
Nellie Ming Lee
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.
The Romanée-Conti vineyard has a storied history, having been sold at auction in 1760 to the prince de Conti (this is where the second half of the name came from), who had outbid his bitter enemy, Madame de Pompadour, the favourite mistress of Louis XV. During the French Revolution, the prince lost his lands and vineyard, but managed to keep his head. One of the current owners, Aubert de Villaine, knows intimately every row of the vineyard and is indefatigable in his efforts to maintain its rich heritage.
Aside from its long history, what makes pinot noir so popular?
Well, it has a wide range of flavours and textures - there are red and black berry fruits such as cherry, raspberry and blackberry; a whiff of earthy mushroom and truffle, along with a bit of barnyard, which is wine-speak for manure (a friend describes this as "sweaty horse's ass"). The colour can be light and on the translucent side compared with the wines of Bordeaux. The romance of pinot noir is that it is just one grape - a single ingredient from which something outstanding can be created.
With pinot noir, high quality equals a high price. If you compare a generic pinot noir (a Bourgogne rouge, for example) from one house to the product of a single vineyard from the same house (and if you're trying this, please do get the same vintage of both), a qualitative difference is noticeable in terms of complexity.
At tastings, I always know when an amazing pinot noir has been poured: the room goes silent as everyone becomes mesmerised by what is in their glass.
