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What Type of Wine is Pinot Noir?
Pinot Noir is a red wine and the name can either refer to the wine itself or the grape used to make it. This wine name comes from the French word for "pine" and also the French word for "black" and this is because Pinot Noir grapes hang in tightly clustered bunches which look like pinecones. These grapes grow all over the world but they prefer cooler areas. A lot of Pinot Noir wine comes from the Burgundy area in France.
Pinot Noir grapes also grow in a lot of other countries and recently the United States has become a major producer of this wine. The best ones come from the Sonoma Coast and the Russian River Valley in California and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. This wine is extensively grown in New Zealand as well.
Most Pinot Noir grapes are quite light red when you compare them to other red grapes, although this is not true for them all. Pinot Noir is used to make Champagne (along with Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay grapes) and it is planted for use in sparkling wines as well as still ones. The grapes grown for table wines are hard to grow well but the ones grown to use in Champagne and sparkling wines are higher yielding. These grapes are also used in still rose wines and sometimes Vin Gris white wines too.
How Does Pinot Noir Taste
This wine can be confusing to wine tasters because there are so many different varieties. This means the flavors, textures, and aromas of one Pinot Noir can be quite different from what you find in another bottle.
The wine is usually light or medium-bodied though, with currant, raspberry or black cherry aromas. Pinot Noir from Burgundy in France used to often feature pleasant farmyard smells but modern ones are fruitier and lighter.
Famous Pinot Noir Regions
Pinot Noir comes from Italy, Australia, Canada, Spain, Romania, the United States and many more countries besides. Austrian Pinot Noirs are dark red in color and not that different from French Burgundy wines. This grape is also grown in the United Kingdom, usually to add to sparkling wine blends.
In France, a lot of the different Pinot Noirs are produced in limited quantities which keeps the prices up. These wines develop floral tastes over fifteen or twenty years in storage. There are various regions in France where this grape is grown.
Pinot Noir is the most widely planted red grape in Germany. Early Pinot Noirs from there were very light in color, nearly like rose wines, but richer and darker ones have been produced there more recently. In Moldova, the wine is variable. Some Pinot Noir from Moldova is very good but other bottles might be rough in flavor and taste too much of oak.
Spanish Pinot Noir is getting more popular with Australian and North American consumers, as well as those in Asia and Australia. It has a lighter style than French Pinot Noir wines. New Zealand Pinot Noir is famous and has won international awards. The wine is early maturing and fruity. It is quite full-bodied and has complex, earthy flavors.
So, if you were wondering, "what type of wine is Pinot Noir" the answer is that it depends on the variety and where it is produced.
