Pinot Noir: The 'Problem-Child' Wine
Pinot Noir is widely regarded as one of the most difficult grape varieties to grow and vinify. Wine connoisseurs like to comment that for every successfully grown pinot noir, there are a dozen versions that are mediocre or below standard.
Pinot Noir is one of those wine varieties that is prone to cloning and there have been dozens of inferior mutations over the years which have given the wine variety a bad name. The challenge in vinifying Pinot Noir is that it is difficult for the vintner to extract ample colour and flavour from the grape skins without getting too much tannin.
Nonetheless, pinot noir is still quite popular in France, the United States (California and Oregon), Germany, Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, Pinot Noir ranks as the fourth most popular red wine grape variety in terms of plantings with 115 hectares in 2005. It ranks behind Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
Despite its drawbacks, wine producers continue to cultivate the Pinot Noir wine grape because of its excellent and highly appealing aroma and flavour. Pinot Noir wine can come in a variety of seductive scents including strawberry, black cherry, raspberry, mint, violets and tea. It also comes in a host of fine, silky flavours and oriental spices.
With its thin skin, Pinot Noir flourishes under a cool climate and tends to ripen early in the season. Under warm climates, it tends to lose much of its fine flavour and delicate aroma. Pinot Noir is also notoriously susceptible to many vitricultural maladies, including rotting, mildew and viruses such as leafroll and fanleaf.
One such mutation of Pinot Noir that has become increasingly popular in recent years is Pinot Gris (“gris” means “grey” in reference to the grapes grayish blue colour).
Pinot Gris is regarded as a versatile wine grape because it can be made into many different wines, including dry, full-bodied and richly textured white wines (either aged in oak barrels or fermented) like the ones in Australia in contrast to the light and crisp Pinot Noir wines produced in Italy or the medium-bodied, lighter and fruitier Pinot Noir wines produced in California.
Pinot Gris wines can be enjoyed with casual meals or sipped by themselves. They can also be enjoyed as a flavourful aperitif during warm summer evenings. The rich peach and pear Pinot Gris wines are highly recommended as the perfect complement to salmon as the wine’s fruitiness balances the oily richness of the fish. Pinot Gris also has the body and flavour to go with rich and spicy dishes such as Crab Cakes and many types of fish.
In Australia, Pinot Gris ranks as the third most widely planted white wine grape variety with 228 hectares. It ranks behind Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc among all of Australia’s white wine varieties. In addition, Pinot Gris was also Australia’s fastest growing white wine variety in terms of yearly plantings with 204.0% growth in 2005.
In 2005, according to Wine and Spirits Magazine's 15th Annual Restaurant Poll, Pinot Gris has overtaken Sauvignon Blanc in popularity, making it second only to Chardonnay among white wines. Readers of Wine and Spirits Magazine praised Pinot Gris for its "approachability” and “versatility with many foods."
