The Essential Guide to Pinot Noir: Satisfy Your Senses with Intensely Aromatic Wine
Known as the “seductress of all wines,” Pinot Noir is one of the most popular red wines in the world. It’s no surprise so many people favour its intense aroma: when this notoriously challenging grape is grown right, it yields wines with a lighter body that are elegant, complex, and long-lasting. Here’s everything you need to know about the case of Pinot Noir, whether you’re a novice entering the world of wine or you’ve been here for some time now.
What Is Pinot Noir?
Pinot Noir is a French-born black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. It’s one of France’s oldest grape species, first grown in Burgundy more than a century ago by Cistercian monks. Today, collectors prize Pinot Noir for its finesse and longevity, especially when it comes from Burgundy’s most renowned vineyards.
Because of its high demand and challenging growing conditions, Pinot Noir is one of the most expensive wines in the world. When searching for a bottle of Pinot Noir online, you’ll find bottles for as little as $3 and as much as $100,000, with most regions offering affordable Pinot Noir wines under $50.
Where Does Pinot Noir Come From?
Although the exact origins of this ancient grape are unknown, Burgundy, France, has long been considered to be its spiritual home, producing the world’s best single-varietal wines. As Burgundy’s wines gained popularity and increased in price, winemakers from around the world aimed to imitate its success, which prompted the planting of Pinot Noir in various regions of the New World and Europe.
However, Pinot Noir performs better in cooler climates because warmer weather obliterates its distinctive acidity, delicacy, and finesse. France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, Australia, the United States (California, Oregon, and New York), and Chile are currently the nations that produce the best Pinot Noir, making it an “international” variety.
In Australia, the most popular Pinot comes from the Mornington Peninsula, Adelaide Hills, Tasmania and Yarra Valley and the Picardy Pinot Noir of Pemberton.
What Does It Taste Like?
Is Pinot Noir a light or heavy wine? Pinot Noir typically has a light to medium body, bright acidity, silky tannins, and alcohol content between 12 and 15%. The best Pinot Noir wine develops a complex flavour profile with notes of cherry, raspberry, mushroom, and forest floor, plus vanilla and baking spice when aged in French oak.
Climate and producer style also impact the flavour of this wine. While cooler climates produce more delicate and light-bodied beverages, warmer environments result in more ripe, full-bodied, and alcoholic varieties. Some winemakers age their wines in French oak which is entirely new, which results in a fuller, more textured wine.
Most wine consumers, both connoisseurs and occasional wine drinkers want to know if Pinot Noir is a dry or sweet wine. Considering that it has lovely red fruit flavours and is juicy due to its naturally high acidity, this question makes sense. But the flavour doesn’t suggest the presence of sugar and, almost always, winemakers produce a dry Pinot Noir.
A dry wine is one in which the sugar from the grape must convert to alcohol by yeast after pressing the grapes. When all the sugar metabolises, the result is a completely dry wine. There may occasionally be some sugar residue, known as residual sugar (RS), which may be on purpose to give the wine a hint of sweetness and richness. Or, it possibly indicates the yeast didn’t finish the fermentation. However, a few grams of RS per litre is still a dry wine.
How to Serve Pinot Noir?
The ideal serving temperature for Pinot Noir is between 12 and 18 °C. Pinot Noir wines that are delicate are lighter and should be served closer to 12°C, while rich, fuller-bodied Pinots aged in oak should be served closer to 18°C. If you replace the cork and put the unfinished bottle of Pinot Noir back in the fridge, the flavours will remain fresh for 1-3 days. The wine will begin to oxidise after that point.
Food Pairings
The wine’s pretty fruit flavours, bright acidity, and elegant style make the best food pairings for Pinot Noir. All these characteristics make Pinot Noir an ideal pairing with white meats like chicken, pork, and turkey and lighter red meats like lamb and duck. Salmon and other fish with fuller palates work well, as does cooking fish with a bolder taste.
The savoury notes of the wine pair well with earthy vegetables and herbs like thyme and mushrooms, especially when added to risotto and pasta. Richly flavoured and dense foods don’t go well with Pinot Noir. They might overpower the wine’s delicate palate.
Pour Yourself a Glass of the Healthiest Wine!
If you need more reasons why you should pour yourself a glass of aromatic wine, here’s one: Pinot Noir is one of the healthiest wines out there. Since the grapes have thin skin, it contains little sugar, fewer calories, and little alcohol.
Additionally, it contains high levels of resveratrol, which has antioxidant properties that can shield you from conditions like cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, pouring yourself a glass of Pinot Noir from time to time can be your treatment for body inflammation.
