International Pinot Noir Day falls on 18 August, inviting us to pull a cork. Most wines welcome such treatment. But fine Pinot can make the person holding the bottle hesitate.
At its upper reaches, Pinot is bought on allocation, moved through storage and discussed in the future tense. A sealed bottle can retain every flattering possibility. Open it and there is nowhere for the wine to hide.
The Heartbreak Grape
Marq de Villiers's 1993 book about Calera popularised Pinot's nickname, 'the heartbreak grape'. Founder Josh Jensen hunted limestone before planting on remote Mount Harlan, persuaded that California could make Pinot capable of standing beside Burgundy.
He had chosen a grape with a talent for humiliating conviction. Pinot's thin skins and compact bunches invite disease; frost, rain and heat can erase a year. André Tchelistcheff, the Russian-born, French-trained winemaker later known as Napa's 'Maestro', put it with brutal economy: 'God made Cabernet Sauvignon, but the Devil made Pinot Noir.'
A poor Pinot is raspberry water with a plank laid across it. A great one moves from cherry, raspberry and rose towards tea, earth, truffle and game. It works through fragrance rather than force, which is why it can feel complete without being heavy.
Why the Cork Stays In
Burgundy has made this uncertainty both more local and more expensive. Vines a few strides apart can produce very different wines and vastly different bills. Revolutionary and Napoleonic inheritance laws required equal division among children, cutting holdings into strips and leaving growers with a scatter of rows rather than a single large domaine. Hence the old Burgundian line: marry for vines, divorce for love.
Sought-after Burgundy may be sold in barrel, passed between investors and held in specialist storage without nearing a plate. Its quoted value may rise while the wine reaches its peak or slips beyond it. If air enters, it oxidises and fades. The buyer can continue to own an idea of greatness long after the bottle has stopped offering one.
Vintage Is Not a Flaw
On 7 July, Michelin unveiled its first Grape Selection in Dijon, recognising 94 Burgundy domaines, nine with three Grapes. Of those at the summit, it said their wines could be approached with 'complete confidence, regardless of vintage'.
The following afternoon, a fire above Nuits-Saint-Georges burnt around 40 hectares of woodland and scrub. More than 100 firefighters attended; the vineyards escaped. The fire settled nothing, but it made Michelin's language sound oddly absolute in a region governed by a changing year.
Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux, given one Grape, later asked Michelin to remove it. The domaine said it had not received Michelin or presented wines to the press since 2020. Burgundy is not short of rankings; it is short of reasons to trust new ones.
A 664-year harvest record provides the broader context. Since 1988, picking has begun 13 days earlier on average than during the previous six centuries. Warmth once helped ripening. Now it can bring higher alcohol, less perfume and early growth exposed to frost.
Marsannay, Santenay, Maranges and Mercurey offer Burgundy without involving a bank manager. Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Chile, England, Bulgaria and Poland extend the field. Pinot does not need to impersonate Burgundy. It needs to speak clearly of where it comes from.
England has a particular need for honesty. Thin, green, unexpressive red at £45 is a commercial failure. In lesser years, use weaker fruit elsewhere or withhold it. Patriotism is not a tasting note.
Pale does not mean feeble. While researching this piece, over lunch at Scott's Richmond I found an excellent illustration in Yorkshire grouse from H.G. Walter, served with butternut squash purée and sliced cabbage: richly flavoured, yet given lift rather than weight. Chef Tom Fraser had bypassed the usual bread sauce, parfait and game chips. 'Always seems strange to me eating grouse this time of year with the traditional additions… especially with the heat we've had recently,' he says. 'Tried to lighten it up a bit.' With such a dish, reach for a slightly chilled Pinot with tea leaf, earth and woodland notes, rather than sweet fruit or emphatic oak.
At its best, Pinot makes a meal more vivid and the label less important. That is why it must be opened.
