I've recently become a fan of commercial pinot noir, and I'm thinking of picking up some grapes this fall, since I'm not far from several prime pinot regions in northern California. But pinot noir has a reputation for being cranky, difficult to work with, challenging even for experienced professionals.
Is this true? Has anyone here had good results or particular difficulties making pinot noir wines (from grapes)?
- ernie
Pinot Noir has a tendency to spoil if it is not tended properly - perhaps a little moreso than other varietals. Apparently it contains _all_ the nutrients spoilage organisms need to thrive. Keeping barrels/containers topped up and sulfited adequately takes care of this problem quite effectively.
I've noticed that Pinot Noir tends to go through phases in its development - mood swings, as it were. One day it'll taste simply wonderful; the following week you'll wonder "what the hell happened to my wine?". It can jump around like a Chihuahua on caffeine when it's young, but eventually settles down. Reminds me of some women I've known. ;^D
I'd say that if you have access to good fruit (and it sounds like you do) it's well worth the trouble to make.
"Bordeaux is the wine of gentlemen, but Burgundy is the wine of kings."
Tom S
In my short and not very broad experience, the quality challenge is in growing the grapes. As Tom says, topping up and adequate sulfite seems to make the wine behave once its made, but the plant really wants to make a variety of lite cool aid. Maybe the problem is it wants to grow 8 tons of grapes to the acre and it needs a real meany to drop all that fruit on the ground, or maybe it needs it to be cool all summer, maybe both. I have considered daily verbal abuse ("make em suffer"), and deprivation (make em suffer more). If you can get great grapes, at least pretty good wine should follow. I think Pinot is made in the vineyard.
difficulties
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Following up: I forgot about Google's group archive when I posted, and when I looked I found lots of threads on this grape, including many posts from Tom. It's Darwin's "lite kool aid" that I'm hoping to avoid; sounds like a good cold soak and slow fermentation on the skins is the trick.
The prices for decent PN grapes are daunting, almost twice I've been paying for local Contra Costa mourvedre or Lodi petit sirah, and that's part of my hesitation. I'm hoping to do a gleaning/"second harvest" up on the Russian River or possibly the Monterey highlands.
Darw> In my short and not very broad experience, the quality challenge is in
Cold soak yes, but you want a _warm_ fermentation. If you aren't barrel aging, consider dumping StaVin French oak "beans" into the fermenter. The earlier you introduce oak into the wine the better it will become integrated into the flavor profile.
Tom S
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