Pinot Noir

This article was first published on our old site, Simply Spanish Wine.

What is Pinot Noir and where is it found?

Pinot Noir is one of the world’s best-known and best-loved red grapes. But it’s also a notoriously delicate grape to work with and requires optimum growing conditions.

But despite the challenges, it’s proved lastingly popular with generations of winemakers around the world. As well as being the grape behind the great wines of Burgundy in France, you’ll also find it growing in places as far afield as New Zealand or Australia, Mendoza in Argentina, Elgin in South Africa, or California or Oregon in the US.

Given the heat, it’s not that common in Spain - at the last count, there were just over 1,000 Ha planted, largely in Catalunya where Pinot Noir is one of the grapes used in places like Penedès to make rosé versions of Cava.

Pinot Noir’s main characteristics

Pinot Noir is a cool climate grape, which means it’s sensitive to high temperatures. In hotter climates, it can easily over-ripen and give jammy flavours to the wine. Equally in a cooler vintage the grapes can struggle to ripen and the wine risks tasting raw and green. The grapes grow in tight bunches and are thin-skinned, which means that Pinot Noir wines tend to be lighter in colour, body and tannin than wines made from thicker-skinned varieties.

What does Pinot Noir taste like?

Delicate and aromatic, Pinot Noir fans often rave about its succulent red fruit aromas of crushed strawberries, cherries or redcurrants, often against a background of slightly peppery notes. As it ages, the best wines made from Pinot Noir will gain in complexity, as the fruit notes deepen, and the wines become more gamey, taking on richer umami or mushroom-like flavours.

Where can I try some Pinot Noir?

For the true Pinot fanatic with money to spend, Burgundy is the obvious place to start. Other famous producing regions include the Russian River Valley districts of California, or Martinborough and Central Otago in New Zealand.

If you’re in Spain, we’d recommend grabbing a bottle of fizz to enjoy some of that Pinot magic. Our Grimau Brut Rosat from the Grimau winery in Penedés (Catalunya) is made from Pinot Noir and Garnacha grapes which are fermented separately and then blended together before undergoing secondary fermentation in the bottle; the same méthode traditionelle used to make Champagne. The bottles are then aged in the cellar for at least 15 months before release.