Pinot noir wineries step in and step up as Burgundy prices soar
It’s Hong Kong’s favourite red but limited supplies mean prices have skyrocketed. Here are three pinot noir wines that won’t break the bank
Local wine lovers remain entranced by Burgundy but a succession of tiny harvests, making already-limited supplies even harder to come by, has driven prices to stratospheric levels. Despite the soft economy, demand for these wines remains robust.
Explaining the psychology of Burgundy fanatics, master of wine Jancis Robinson, has commented, “Red burgundy casts a spell on a high proportion of wine drinkers. When it is good, it is uniquely hedonistically charged. And when it’s bad, we tend to see it as our fault for having backed the wrong horse in the incredibly unpredictable race towards Burgundian perfection.”
Fortunately, there’s good news for lovers of pinot noir. Outside of Burgundy, the quality of this fickle, hard-to-grow grape is improving dramatically. And within the French region, climate change has worked to the advantage of producers. Warmer growing conditions mean wines are reaching better levels of ripeness. Village-level wines are improving immensely and are an affordable alternative to costly premier and grand cru wines.
Here are a few pinot noirs worth trying from different parts of the globe.