Pinot Noir is a black wine grape variety that hails from France. It’s one of France’s oldest grapes, cultivated more than a century ago by the Cistercian monks in Burgundy. Today, collectors prize Pinot Noir for its finesse and age-worthiness. Due to its popularity and difficulty to grow, it’s one of the world’s most expensive wines.
Finding the right Pinot Noir for you can be deliciously challenging as Pinot Noir wine taste varies based on climate, soil, and producer style. Cooler climates produce more delicate and light-bodied Pinot Noir. Warmer climates produce riper and fuller-bodied Pinot Noirs with higher alcohol. Some producers age their wines in 100% new French oak which creates a fuller, textured wine.
The best Pinot Noir taste has complex flavors that include cherry, raspberry, mushroom, and forest floor, plus vanilla and baking spice when aged in French oak.
Below you’ll find the most popular regions for growing Pinot Noir and a brief flavor profile of the area to help you narrow down your search for the perfect Pinot.
Burgundy, France – Birthplace
It’s fairly challenging to sum up the style of Burgundy’s Pinot Noir wines, but it’s safe to say that Burgundy is the king of the Pinot Noir grape. Burgundy showcases Pinot Noir’s ideal climate: a long, cool growing season, sun-angled slopes to promote ripening, and limestone-based but varied soils.
Burgundian Pinot Noir is going to be layered, acid-driven, and earthy, often one of the most ageable wines in the world.
Try: Jessiaume Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Germany
First documented in Germany in the 14th century, Pinot Noir is grown throughout Germany’s winemaking regions. Styles can vary from light and lean to rich and oaked, often depending more on producer than the region.
Baden is the German region most associated with Pinot Noir and specializes in rich, layered, savory Pinot Noir wines, particularly from the warm, sunny Kaiserstuhl area, known for its volcanic and loess soils.
Try: Becker Landgraf Odernheimer Pinot Noir
New Zealand
Known more for its Sauvignon Blanc grape, New Zealand also has several excellent Pinot Noir regions that are known for producing full-bodied, but not overblown styles. The Central Otago region is the area most famous for Pinot Noir, as the winemakers here have adopted the grape as their local specialty.
The grapes here, planted on varied soil including schist, clay, and loam, are able to gain high potential alcohol while maintaining high acidity. Central Otago Pinot Noir is generally medium-to-full-bodied, with seductive aromatics and soft, ripe red fruit.
Try: Goose Bay Pinot Noir
Oregon
Oregon adopted Pinot Noir as its signature grape in the 1960s, when California producers traveled north to find a cooler climate for the grape. The Willamette Valley is the heart of the state’s production.
While each of the Willamette’s six sub-regions has a different local climates and soil, which produce different styles of Pinot Noir, the overall region tends to have a hybrid Old World-New World style. Willamette Pinot is lighter and earthier than most California examples but has more round, juicy red fruit than most Burgundy, with a distinct cherry-cola note.
Try: Domaine Drouhin
California
Within the last 20 years Pinot Noir has become a California favorite. In Sonoma County, the warmer Russian River Valley produces fruitier styles of Pinot Noir, while Carneros and the Sonoma Coast are known for cooler-climate, lean but sunny styles. Several areas of the more southerly Santa Barbara County are being recognized for restrained, earthier styles of Pinot Noir with plentiful candied fruit.
Try: Gary Farrell Russian River Selection Pinot Noir
