• Aromas and Flavors : ripe-grape or black cherry, cinnamon, sassafras, or mint. Ripe tomato, mushroom, and barnyard, cherry, blackcurrant, licorice, strawberry, raspberry, cloves, truffles, game, earth
• Medium to high acidity
• AKA:  Red Burgundy, Blauburgunder or Spätburgunder in Austria and Germany, Croatia (Burgundac), Italy (Pinot Nero), Switzerland (Clevner, but labeled “Dole” when often blended with Gamay Noir) and Ancient Romans knew this grape as Helvenacia Minor
• French wines : Vosne Romanée, Clos Vougeot, Pommard and comes in the composition of Jura and Alsace wines as well as in rosé de Sancerre
• Makes a type of Champagne called Blanc d’ Noir (one of three Champagne grapes along with Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier)
• Pinot Noir is one of the oldest grape varieties to be cultivated for the purpose of making wine
• Ancient Romans vinified it as early as the first century AD.
• In Burgundy (Bourgogne), France there is a two-mile-wide, thirty-mile-long stretch of hills, called the Côte d’Or (“Slope of Gold”) that is the only region to achieve consistent success from the Pinot Noir vine
• The quality of Bourgogne is due to:
  Vineyards slope gently down toward the East, providing the vines with long sun exposure yet avoiding afternoon heat
  The soil there is very calcareous (chalky; containing calcium carbonate), offering good drainage (well-drained soils have a higher average temperature, which assists ripening)
• Other areas known for Pinot Noir:

California (Carneros and Sonoma)

South Africa (Walker Bay)

Australia (Yarra Valley)

New Zealand (Martinborough, Marlborough, and Central Otago)

• Pinot Noir is often described as being a “difficult” grape:

Although tolerant of cold climates, it is particularly susceptible to Spring frosts

Sharpshooter leafhopper finds pinot noir a perfect host and carries Pierce’s Disease, which can destroy an entire vineyard in as little as three years

The Leaf-roll virus is prevalent in almost all pinot noir plantings over ten years old

The pinot vines are not very vigorous and often lack adequate leaf cover to protect the fruit from birds

• Partly due to the presence of 18 amino acids Pinot Noir ferments violently, often “boiling” up and out of its container, speeding the process out of control
• Color retention is a major problem for the thin-skinned berries
• Prone to acetification and often loses the aromas and flavors it seems to display through fermentation and aging, as soon as it is bottled
• To draw the attention of health-conscious consumers there is three to four times higher resveratrol compared to other varieties
• Shows promise in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, and in New Zealand
• Also some good progress in areas of California: Santa Maria Valley (Santa Barbara County); Russian River Valley (Sonoma County); Carneros (in both Sonoma and Napa Counties); Anderson Valley (Mendocino County); as well as the Pinnacles (Monterey County) and Santa Lucia Highlands (Monterey County)
• Does not have the longevity in the bottle of the darker red wines