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How do you identify Pinot Noir?
Pinot Noir is known for its bright red fruit flavors of cherry, strawberry and raspberry, as well as floral notes. Its structure is friendly to many wine lovers: light in body, low in tannins, with good acidity.
What type of wine is a Pinot Noir?
Pinot noir is a type of wine grape and a style of red wine that is typically light to medium-bodied, fruit-forward, and relatively low alcohol compared to other red wines. Originally from Burgundy, the pinot noir grape is notoriously hard to grow.
What is the difference between red wine and Pinot Noir?
The grapes used for Pinot Noir have thinner skins than those of other red wines, which results in a lighter-bodied wine. The sophisticated, thin, and delicate notes are what make a Pinot Noir stand out.
What aromas and flavors would be used to describe a Pinot Noir?
Pinot Noir flavor is so diverse! Monterey, California: succulent texture with aromas of blackberries, slate and spice. Sonoma Coast, California: plums and mulberries with smoky tones and refreshing acidity. Willamette Valley, Oregon: crunchy red berries with earthy notes and zippy acidity.
Is a Pinot Noir dry or sweet?
DryPinot noir / Sweetness of resulting wineWhile it may not seem as dry as a Cabernet Sauvignon or Tempranillo at first taste, Pinot Noir is a dry wine by nature. Wine that is considered dry, is a wine style that refers to any wine with less than 3% residual sugar.
Is Pinot Noir light bodied?
Pinot Noir is the world's most popular light-bodied red wine. It's loved for its red fruit, flower, and spice aromas that are accentuated by a long, smooth finish.
Why is Pinot Noir the healthiest red wine?
Pinot Noir is rated as the healthiest wine because of the high levels of resveratrol. It is made of grapes with thin skin, has low sugar, fewer calories, and low alcohol content. Sagrantino made in Italy contains the highest concentration of antioxidants and is packed with tannins.
What is the smoothest red wine to drink?
With that basic understanding of not being too tannic or acidic, sommeliers can recommend the best wines for anyone looking for a smooth drink. Pinot Noir, Gamay, Grenache, Trousseau, and Poulsard are considered classic examples of smooth wine by Dustin Wilson, master sommelier and owner of Verve Wine.
Is Pinot Noir sweeter than Merlot?
Because Pinot Noir has lush berry flavors and silky tannins, many people ask us: “Is Pinot Noir sweet or dry?” Although there may be discrepancies in the sweetness levels of Pinot Noir vs Cabernet Sauvignon vs Merlot, rest assured, all three wines are generally considered dry wines.
Is Pinot Noir smooth?
Pinot Noir is smooth and elegant with great acidity, which allows it to pair with many dishes. Medium body reds pair well with lighter meats.
What is the difference between merlot and Pinot Noir?
Merlot wine is soft, medium-bodied, with low tannin and acidity. It has charming plum and pomegranate with red fruit and earthy flavors. Pinot Noir is the smoothest red wine with a velvety texture and raspberry and plum flavors. It also seduces you with strawberry and red cherry aromas.
Why is Pinot Noir a sensitive variety?
In the winery it is sensitive to fermentation methods and yeast strains, and is highly reflective of its terroir with different regions producing very different wines. Its thin skin makes it susceptible to bunch rot and similar fungal diseases.
Where is Pinot Noir made?
Pinot Noir wines are made in a few places throughout France but the most famous region – by far – is Burgundy (aka “Bourgogne.”) The world’s most coveted Pinot Noir vines grow on a narrow, east-facing slope just South of Dijon. Burgundy is a very old wine region and was first tended by Cistercian monks in the Middle Ages.
What is Burgundy wine?
Burgundy is a very old wine region and was first tended by Cistercian monks in the Middle Ages. When tasting French Pinot Noir, you may note its more earthy and floral style. This is part of Burgundy’s terroir.
What is the best wine to pair with duck?
A very versatile food pairing wine given it’s higher high acidity and lower tannin. Pinot Noir pairs particularly well with duck, chicken, pork, and mushrooms.
What is the most popular red wine?
Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is the world’s most popular light-bodied red wine. It’s loved for its red fruit, flower, and spice aromas that are accentuated by a long, smooth finish.
Is Pinot Noir the same as Chardonnay?
Pinot Noir enjoys the same climate as Chardonnay. You’ll often find these two grapes planted close by. Blanc de Noirs Champagne uses Pinot Noir (and Pinot Meunier) as its base grape. Pinot Noir is one of the few red grapes that’s commonly made into red, rosé, white, and sparkling wine!
Is Pinot Noir a fruity wine?
California Pinot Noir is typically rich, fruity, and lush in style. The ample sun and controlled temperatures make it easy for winemakers to pick at the perfect moment when ripeness is optimal. Besides brooding rich fruit flavors, many of these wines have subtle allspice undertones from aging in imported French oak barrels.
Which is bigger, Pinot Nero or Pinot Noir?
Pinot Nero, as the Italians call it, tend to have more color extraction and higher alcohol. A giant leap in flavor and intensity from the Pinot Noir in France and Germany, California Pinot Noirs are bigger, lush and more fruit-forward.
Where does Pinot Noir grow?
Pinot Noir grows best across northern Italy where the climate is much cooler. The fruit flavors of Italian Pinot Noir are similar to that of France, but the earthy flavors lean toward smoke, tobacco, white pepper and clove. Pinot Nero, as the Italians call it, tend to have more color extraction and higher alcohol.
What is the most prized wine in the world?
April 8, 2013 - Updated on September 11th, 2019. Pinot Noir wine is the most highly prized wine in the world. But why? It’s not as rich or big as its noble cousins, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Pinot Noir wines are pale in color, translucent and their flavors are very subtle.
What is the best wine to pair with salmon?
Pinot Noir Food Pairing. I like to think of Pinot Noir as a catch-all food pairing wine. Pinot Noir is light enough for salmon but complex enough to hold up to some richer meat including duck. In a pinch, when everyone orders a vastly different entree at a restaurant, you can usually win by picking Pinot Noir; it will make everyone happy.
What is the best wine to pair with Confit Ragù?
Spiced Duck with Confit Ragù. Duck is a classic dish to pair with Pinot Noir. The acidity in Pinot will cut through the fat and gamey flavors of duck. If you spice the duck, it will bring out all the nuanced flavors in Pinot Noir.
What fish goes well with Pinot Noir?
A rich fish like lobster can pair with Pinot Noir as long as it’s a component within the dish.
What wine goes well with pizza?
High acidity and aromatic red wines go very well with cheese and bread. For those of you who eat pizza at least 2 times a week try adding fresh herbs to accentuate the floral notes in the Pinot Noir

Overview
Pinot noir is a red-wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French words for pine and black. The word pine alludes to the grape variety having tightly clustered, pine cone–shaped bunches of fruit.
Pinot noir grapes are grown around the world, mostly in cooler climates, and th…
Description
Pinot noir's home is France's Burgundy region, particularly Côte-d'Or. It is also planted in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, northern parts of Croatia, Czech Republic, England, the Republic of Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Hungary, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, New Zealand, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukrain…
History, mutants and clones
Pinot noir is almost certainly a very ancient variety that may be only one or two generations removed from wild, Vitis sylvestris, vines. Its origins are nevertheless unclear: In De re rustica, Columella describes a grape variety similar to Pinot noir in Burgundy during the 1st century CE; however, vines have grown wild as far north as Belgium in the days before phylloxera, and it is possible tha…
Crosses
In the Middle Ages, the nobility and church of northeast France grew some form of Pinot in favored plots, while peasants grew a large amount of the much more productive, but otherwise distinctly inferior, Gouais blanc. Cross-pollination may have resulted from such close proximity, with the genetic distance between the two parents imparting hybrid vigor leading to the viticultural selection of a diver…
Regions
Pinot noir is produced in the wine-growing regions of Patagonia, Neuquén Province and Río Negro Province.
Pinot noir is produced in several wine-growing areas of Australia, notably in the Southern Highlands in New South Wales, Yarra Valley, Geelong, the Bellarine Peninsula, Beechworth, South Gippsland, Sunbury, Macedon Ranges and Mornin…
Blends
While Pinot noir is commonly blended in sparkling Champagne (with Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier), in still wines it is best-known as unblended, varietal wines; this is similar to Chardonnay, the other great variety of Burgundy. Some traditional blends of Pinot noir include:
• Jura wine, particularly the Arbois AOC and Côtes du Jura, where it is blended with Trousseau and Poulsard.
Recent popularity
Being lighter in style, Pinot noir has benefited from a trend toward more restrained, less alcoholic wines around 12% alcohol by volume.
During 2004 and the beginning of 2005, Pinot noir became considerably more popular among consumers in the US, Australia, New Zealand and Asia as a result of the film Sideways, and its deleterious effect on Merlot sales. Throughout the film, the main character speaks fondly of Pino…
Synonyms
Blauburgunder, Blauer Arbst, Blauer Spätburgunder, Burgunder, Cortaillod, Mário Feld, Mário Feld Tinto, Morillon, Morillon Noir, Mourillon, Savagnin Noir or Salvagnin Noir.