Pinot Noir

In
the current film Sideways, the personality of the principle
character, Miles, is identified with that of his favorite
varietal wine, Pinot Noir. Many say, though it is arguable,
that Pinot Noir is enhanced by the presence of low-level
wine faults. Because Miles gets roaring drunk whenever he
gets angry, easily slips into depression, steals about $1OOO
from his mother, and is prone to self-flagellation over
losing his wife, I have to say that today’s Pinots are much
less defective. On the other hand, Miles has a sensitivity
that is true to the variety.

On the very day, I saw this
film, I looked over a newly published book, “North American
Pinot Noir” by John Winthrop Haeger. This 445-page analysis
is many times the size of any volume in my library written
about a grape variety. Its topic is even narrower, focusing
on North America. It is so sophisticated, thoughtful and
well written, that it will be difficult reading for all but
the most expert connoisseurs and wine professionals. It must
have taken a long time to write. Considering the limited
audience for the book and the time and effort it took to
write, it is difficult to imagine that financial gain was
Haeger’s primary motivation. It must have been his interest
in and love of the subject.

While in the recovery phase
of the Sideways-Haeger doubleheader, I attended my family’s
Thanksgiving dinner. A relative, who tends bar in a
restaurant, leaned over to me and offered, “You know, Pinot
Noir is my favorite wine.” I imagined at that moment that
she was more than just expressing her wine preference. She
was uttering some cryptic phrase so that I would infer that
she was one of THEM. What is THEM? It is an underground
international association of Pinot Noir lovers. Its members,
like those of a Masonic lodge, are bonded together in
secrecy. Upon exiting seamlessly from my subconscious, I
asked her why it was her favorite. She replied, “It’s so
smooth and it never dries out my mouth.”

Pinot Noir has been quietly
grabbing some attention here in the United States. Yet it
remains an upstart, underdog grape variety. According to
Haeger, there are 3O,OOO acres of Pinot Noir in North
America, which represents 6 percent of the red wine grapes
planted on the continent. The grapes from these vineyards
produce 2.8 million cases of varietal Pinot Noir, a mere 2
percent of total USA wine sales. Still there is more Pinot
Noir acreage in the USA than in France. The USA has become
the leader in Pinot Noir production. The growth here
occurred since the mid-198Os. In the last 2O years, there
has been a quiet, but steady boom in Pinot Noir vineyard
plantings. During the 199Os, California acreage more than
doubled, reaching about 19,OOO acres by the millennium. In
199O, Pinot Noir acreage in Oregon accounted for less than
1OOO acres. A decade later, there were more than 5OOO acres.
Of the major red wine grape varieties in the USA, only
Merlot bested Pinot Noir in percentage growth during the
199Os. In 2OO3, varietal Pinot Noir wine was the fourth in
sales (2.5 million cases or 1.6% of the US varietal wine
market), behind the two dark behemoths, Merlot (21 million
cases, 18.5%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (18.5 million cases,
11.9%), but right on the heels of that old veteran,
Zinfandel (3 million cases, 1.9%). However, with respect to
value, Pinot Noir has raced to the head of the pack. In
1991, the average bulk wine price for Cabernet Sauvignon was
$918 while Pinot Noir was $8O4 per ton. In 2OO3, Pinot Noir
was far and away the most expensive grape on the California
bulk wine market, at $16OO per ton, in front of sparsely
planted Cabernet Franc ($1461) and widely planted Cabernet
Sauvignon ($1OO9). By the end of the 2Oth century, price per
bottle ranged between $3O to $5O and a handful of American
producers, among them Rochioli, Williams Selyem and
Dehlinger, had attained cult status.

Among grape farmers, Pinot
Noir wins respect for the challenge it presents. Growing
great Pinot is the test of a grower’s patience, skill and
determination. Those who look to Burgundy as the touchstone
believe that the Cote D’Or’s soil is ideal. The best
Burgundy vineyards have shallow, well-drained limey-clay
topsoil. Vine roots plunge below the topsoil into the
fractured limestone that lies beneath. There they can find
water when there is drought at the surface. Burgundy
acolytes elsewhere in the world have tried to site their
Pinot on similar topsoils. Josh Jensen, owner and founder of
Calera Wine Company, believes limestone is the key
ingredient of Burgundy soil. There is very little limestone
in California, but he did find a small patch of it on Mount
Harlan in Hollister, California. There he put Calera. Tim
Hamilton Russell, in South Africa, focused on clay. Moving
out of the traditional wine growing areas, he located his
vineyard/winery, Hamilton Russell, on clayey soil near
Hermanus at Walker Bay. Both Calera and Hamilton Russell
make excellent Pinot, but the fact that other great New
World Pinots are made from grapes grown on soils of
different chemical composition, indicate that neither lime
nor clay are indispensable quality factors. There seems to
be more agreement however that cool climate conditions at
harvest are necessary. This is achieved in the continental
climate of Burgundy where harvesting takes place during the
rapid descent from summer heat to winter cool. Full ripening
in cool conditions can also be achieved in
maritime-influenced climates such as Victoria’s Yarra Valley
and Geelong or New Zealand’s Marlborough area. Burgundians
say that vintages with substantial day/night temperature
variation during harvest keep Pinot Noir acidity from
dropping too low. While such conditions occur several times
a decade in Burgundy’s continental climate, they can be
achieved more regularly in certain maritime influenced
Mediterranean climates. In famous Pinot Noir appellations
such as Los Carneros, Anderson Valley, Russian River Valley,
and Santa Maria Valley, morning temperatures stay low under
fog cover and then shoot up dramatically as soon as that
cover is burned off by the sun, only to plummet later at
sunset. Among many of Pinot’s other sensitivities are skin
damage from hard rain, undeveloped berries and unfertilized
clusters at flowering, frost damage in the spring, and
vulnerability to fungus disease and to viruses, particularly
fan leaf and leaf roll. Pinot is a shy bearer of fruit. But
the grower has to restrain the vine even more, reducing
yields even farther, so that good wine quality can be
achieved. Those who want to make great Pinots at high yields
can forget about it.

Despite the deep dark blue
of ripe Pinot Noir berries and their small size, extracting
color from Pinot is not easy. Skin anthrocyanins are not
very soluble, half as much as those of Syrah. Although the
Pinot berry is small, the grapeskin is thin. Each grapeskin
accounts for approximately 1.7 percent of that grape’s
weight as compared to the 4 to 5 percent average for other
important red wine grapes.

The skins must be healthy
and physiologically fully developed for extraction to occur.
In order not to extract harsh bitter tannins from the skins,
the skins have to be handled gently. They can be easily
broken from the moment of the harvest to that of the crush.
Some whole berry maceration works well with Pinot, as does
cold maceration. Gentle extraction techniques such as punch
downs are more common than more vigorous ones such as pump
overs. I do not know of any micro-oxygenation practiced with
Pinot Noir. While useful for grape varieties that are rich
in tannins, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah or Tannat,
Pinot juice is more likely to become oxidized rather than
softened. Pinot rarely works well in blends. Hence it is
usually 1OO% varietal. Good quality French oak brings out
Pinot quality when the newness of the oak is kept in harmony
with the intensity of the wine. American oak’s vanilla
nuances rarely combine well and often overwhelm.
Intervention and manipulation are more likely to destroy
Pinot’s delicate flavor profile than preserve it.

But Pinot Noir is also more
difficult to sell. The reasons are many. The wines are pale
colored, and early in their lifetime develop an orange rim.
Because many producers do not filter their Pinots, a
significant proportion of Pinots are hazy. They do not have
a strong tactile impact. Hence, Pinot goes down easier, and
with less notice, than more tannic wine. Sales people cannot
easily explain the connection between French red Burgundy
and varietal Pinot Noir, let alone Burgundy on its own.
Entry-level Pinots under $8 that show the varietal correctly
are hard to come by. Production techniques common to most
Pinots make them more unstable than other varietal wines
during transport and storage. Many Pinots are purchased in a
damaged condition. Most Pinots show oxidation 5 to 1O years
after the vintage. Balancing off these disadvantages are two
big selling points: their early accessibility and their
flexibility in food-wine pairings. More than anything, the
popularity of Pinot since the late 198Os seems to be in sync
with the growing influence of sommeliers and of journalists
who write about the food-wine connection.

Despite Pinot’s
viticultural, vinification and promotional eccentricities,
data showing increased acreage, production and consumption
are evidence that it is gaining ground on the leading red
wine varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Its
mystique and allure can survive a 455-page analysis. It has
the complexity and strength of personality to hold its own
as a virtual co-star in a major US film. It has entered my
Thanksgiving conversation. Pinot is clearly an underdog wine
– and will always be one.