This grape is one of the most difficult to grow and make into fine wine, although when done properly, it can also be one of the very best. Its growing conditions are very precise, needing warm days and cool nights. Too cool, and the resultant wines are pale and thin; too warm and the wine becomes overripe, with a jammy, cooked flavour.
Pinot Noir is the noble red grape of France's Burgundy region where, under ideal conditions, it yields ruby-coloured wines with a silky, velvety richness. Whereas Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in the New World's warmer climates, Pinot only really succeeds in a few small pockets. It's most at home in cooler areas, thriving up north in Oregon or down south in New Zealand. In these places, the long, cool growing season allows the Pinot Noir fruit flavours to develop slowly.
Less pigmented than most red grapes, Pinot Noir has a brick-orange hue rather than a deep purple colour. At its best, Pinot Noir is low in tannin and high in glycerine, giving it a beautiful velvety, silky texture. It has a lively acidic backbone that gives length and focus to the typical Pinot Noir flavours of raspberries, cherries, game and strawberries. Good young Pinot has a sweet summer-fruit fragrance and taste. The best mature to achieve complex aromas of truffles, game and decaying leaves.
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