Focus on Varietals: Pinot Noir
I’m not sure how or where most of you spent August 18th but I certainly hope you held a glass of one of my favorite varietals in celebration of National Pinot Noir Day!
If I had to pick a wine to pair with fall, particularly in New England, Pinot Noir would be my first and second and third choice. Then again if I had to pick a favorite varietal we may end up with the same answer.
There is something about cooler nights, foliage, fall fruits and vegetables (think apple picking and pumpkin pie or even pumpkin spice latte if you must) and fall dishes that just pair so well with Pinot Noir!
But before we get into what Pinot Noir pairs with or the various styles and expressions, here are some fun facts about Pinot Noir you may or may not know:
Pinot Noir is thought to be some 2,000 years old – compared to grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon which are a mere few hundred years old
Pinot Noir grows in conditions almost exactly like what Chardonnay likes and often times you will find these grapes side by side
The glass of Champagne you toast with contains Pinot Noir as one of the three varietals which make up Champagne (Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier being the other two)
In 2018, the most expensive wine sold at auction, $558,000, was a Red Burgundy (Burgundy reds are made using only Pinot Noir)
DNA analysis has revealed that Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris (yes, that Italian white you’re thinking about is the same) and Pinot Blanc are simply mutations of the same grape
I could keep going with the trivia but let’s get into Pinot Noir more...
The best Pinot Noir in the world comes from France, in particular Burgundy where Domaines , French wine speak for territories or place where wine is made, have been producing legendary wines for centuries.
Below is a better visual of where these vineyards are located.
For the purpose of this example we are focusing on the Nuits St George/Vosne Romaneé region below.
I mentioned above that the record holder at auction was a Red Burgundy – a 1945 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, to be more specific. Or DRC as it’s known in the industry (DRC photo below)
I’m proud to say our wine list at Café Escadrille features not one, but two gorgeous examples of DRC!
No, our bottles are not worth $500,000 (at least not yet!) but they are indeed magnificent examples of what this wonderful place called Burgundy can do with Pinot Noir, or perhaps what Pinot Noir feels like doing while being hosted there.
You see, Pinot Noir is notorious for being perhaps the most difficult grape to work with. One of my favorite wine quotes illustrates this.
“God made Cabernet Sauvignon whereas the devil made Pinot noir”
-André Tchelistcheff
The man depicted in the statue outside of Napa Valley is THE most influential wine maker in the post prohibition wine era and I may devote a separate blog entry to him in the future. But, for now, if you’re curious, click here for a very long list of his contributions to our industry.
He worked with EVERYONE you can think that is or was SOMEONE in the wine world and made wine history in this country.
When I say “Top Napa Cabernets” or “Iconic American Wineries” from California up to Washington State, this man had a hand in them.
The one varietal he always respected yet frustrated him – Pinot Noir.
And he’s not alone. Many winemakers, enologists and Sommeliers struggle to work with, understand and try not to have a love-hate relationship with Pinot Noir.
Thin skinned and prone to small temperature changes.
Temperamental as to where it likes to grow and ripen, or not, or ripen too fast, or too slow, you get the picture.
Expressive of its terroir like no other varietal. Pinot Noir picks upon which soil type was used to grow it.
It’s also particularly expressive when it comes to which Clones are used in winemaking. Most varietals have a few Clones available for the vineyard manager and wine maker to choose from, Chardonnay has some famous ones like Wente (yes that California winery also developed a Clone which is widely planted) but Pinot Noir is by far the most Clone-driven varietal.
Before we get into more specifics, let’s look at what a Clone, or wine Clone in particular is.
The excerpt below comes from Bell cellars, a fantastic Cabernet Sauvignon producer which is one of the few wineries to bottle a single Clone (Clone 6) Cabernet Sauvignon.
In viticulture, a "Clone" refers to a vine variety that is selected for specific qualities, which result from natural mutations. Cuttings are made from an original "mother vine" that exhibits key characteristics, such as resistance to certain diseases or desired cluster size, taste, smell, etc.
A Clone is defined (Hartmann, et al., 1990) as a genetically uniform group of individuals derived originally from a single individual by asexual propagation (cuttings, grafting, etc.). All grape varieties are propagated by asexual means to preserve the unique characteristics of the variety. But slight genetic variations commonly occur among the many billions of cells that make up a grapevine. If a new vine is propagated from a cane that grew out of such variant tissue, it may exhibit somewhat different characteristics than the original vine.
To be considered a distinct Clone, the plant must possess a characteristic making it different from its parent plant, even if the difference is slight. See examples in the following table.
Larger or smaller fruit, size/yield, disease resistance, fruit maturation rate, fruit color or aroma are all good examples of qualities that growers or winemakers may wish to isolate and develop further. (Keep in mind that differences between Clones of the same variety are much smaller than differences between grape varieties, but sometimes the difference can be important.) If the difference is desirable, for example, the new vine ripens its fruit a week earlier; the vine could be further propagated to perpetuate the new characteristics. Thus, a new Clone is born; it is assigned a number or given a name to distinguish it from other Clones.
So why Clone? Well, when you find desirable traits you wish to pass or traits you realized work really well in a particular climate or soil you want to make sure you can keep the quality and consistency vintage after vintage! The older the varietal the more Clones, ergo – Pinot Noir has dozens of Clones!
Below is a list of some of the most popular Clones posted by Melville Vineyards in Santa Rita Hills. Reading through you quickly see how and why we have so many “versions” of Pinot Noir available in our glass.
Dijon Clone 113 One of the “teen” series of [Dijon] Clones, Clone 113 is perhaps the most elegant with perfume aromatics. It is typically seen as an aromatic component with very high-toned elements in the nose. When properly managed, the wine can possess nice weight and body as well. To amplify the prettiness of the wine, we generally de-stem the entirety of the fruit.
Dijon Clone 115 By far the most widely planted of this clonal grouping, Clone 115 is undeniably the most important Clone in the past decade or so of California vineyard development. If we were forced to select only one Clone, we would unanimously agree upon this one. Clone 115 works great on its own, and serves as the spine to our entire pinot noir program.
Pommard Clone 5 The Pommard selection has been available in California for a number of years, and can often work great as a “stand-alone” Clone. It is sometimes known for having a meaty/gamey edge, but for us, it typically expresses itself through very pure dark fruits.
Dijon Clone 777 This Clone is experiencing a significant surge in planting similar to Clone 115. It is known for being very dark and rich, and potentially appropriate to be produced on its own. While quite dark, it has yet to produce the velvety richness professed by a number of colleagues on our estate thus far. It has, however, resulted in very intriguing and complex wines that merit careful attention.
So, with all this complexity, temperamental nature, Clonal selection available and overall history you can see why for many of us in the industry Pinot Noir is “THE” varietal to focus on when it comes to red wines.
She likes to torment us while surprising us and making us smile yet always keeps us on our toes and makes the most exquisite of wines and reminds us how amazing this whole turning fruit juice into drinkable art can be.
So even if you missed August 18th, reach in your wine cellar or come into Café Escadrille and let’s open a delicious bottle of Pinot Noir together!
Until next time. Cheers.