Wine Lessons: The Beauty and Taste of Pinot Noir (Part 1/2)

LESSON #4: THE BEAUTY AND TASTE OF PINOT NOIR (PART 1/2)

DEEP within Ground Zero of Pinot Noir territory, in a region known as Burgundy, wine producers coined a phrase "heartbreak grape" for the Pinot Noir grape.

Wine makers have tried their luck planting this notoriously fastidious grape in Australia, New Zealand, Oregon, Italy and other regions.

All ended up enjoying the same turmoil and frustration. So why didn't everybody simply throw up their hands in disgust saying "the hell with it" and went on to plant something else instead?

Get yourself a bottle of great Burgundy - a rare find to be sure - and there will be no need for words to answer this question.

It starts with the nose. The aromas of a great Pinot Noir - be it a Volnay or a Bonnes Mares for example - deliver the most complex bouquet second to none with notes of black cherry, strawberry then a myriad of spices starting with cinnamon and mint, followed by food aromas of tomato and mushroom.

But it is really what happens on the palate that gets everyone smitten.

The wine is inundated with "impossible" combinations: rich but not heavy, full-bodied but elegant, vigorous but not acidic or tart, tannic but not astringent and intense but delicate.

The clincher is still to come. It is impossible to forget the velvety texture of a matured Pinot Noir, a mouth-feel that we can't experience with any other varietal, not even the great Cabernet Sauvignon.

Those are the reasons why perfectly sane and rational men put up with the agony of heartbreaks and the frustration of defeats for a whole lifetime.

Remember that an average wine maker gets to make about 35 to 45 vintages in his lifetime. With Pinot Noir, it is conceivable that a wine maker gets no more than one or two winners in his entire wine-making lifetime!

Click here to read Part 2

Go back wine lesson index

Source: The Beauty and Taste of Pinot Noir