Pinot Noir wine: eleven origins, one grape variety

Pinot Noir is thin-skinned and ripens early: it records the slightest difference in temperature, exposure and soil. In this section, freshness comes from the ocean in Marlborough and Walker Bay, from altitude in Gualtallary where the vines grow at almost 1,500 metres, from a volcano and glacial streams in Chile, and from latitude alone in Burgundy. These different sources of coolness give acidities and textures that are nothing alike, even at comparable ripeness.

Through Chile, which shows the lowest median in this section at €22.15 and seven bottles under €20.00. The El Viejo del Valle by Matetic and Guillaume Letang at €12.50, from vines of 40 to 60 years old in the Andes, can be bought singly, as can the Santa Rita Secret Reserve at €13.80. A regional burgundy at around €21.00 then provides the European point of comparison.

Because the section mixes cuvées blended from a wide area with hand-harvested named plots. The price pays for the degree of selection: yields, sorting, ungrafted vines, the proportion of whole bunches, the length of barrel ageing. The most expensive bottle, Le Paradis from Domaine Nico at €330.00, comes from plots in Gualtallary at almost 1,500 metres of altitude. The median of the section is still €49.90.

Eighteen bottles are under €20.00, but only five can be bought singly: the El Viejo del Valle at €12.50, the Santa Rita Secret Reserve at €13.80, the rosé prosecco from Sutto at €13.90, the Chacra la Papay from Malma at €16.50 and the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Coup de Foudre from Domaine Bonnardot at €19.90. The other thirteen are only offered by the pack.

A good part of the section, yes. Burgundy is the best served, with almost all its bottles available individually, whereas the Australian cuvées are sold only in packs. The American, New Zealand, Chilean, South African and Argentine wines are split between the two options. Each product page shows the packaging available.

Both hold their own at this price level, and the choice comes down to style. Between €45.00 and €55.00, our cellar offers the Waimaunga from Clos Henri at €45.00, the Hamilton Russell at €55.00 and the Volnay from Domaine Vaudoisey at €46.00. The first two play on tension and clean red fruit, the third on restraint and tannin.

It is the most versatile red at the table, because it brings acidity and little tannin. In this section, some cuvées are recommended with beef, with lamb and with white meat. Cheeses follow, with pairings for pressed cheeses and soft cheeses, and many bottles go with grilled vegetables. Some are even recommended with a spicy dish, which few reds can handle.

At 14–16 °C, cooler than most reds: above that, the alcohol takes over and the fruit fades. Bottles under €20.00, made in tanks to be drunk young, do not need decanting. Single-plot cuvées above €80.00, often closed in their youth, benefit from half an hour in a decanter or being opened in advance.

It depends on the price tier. Cuvées under €20.00 are drunk within two years, those from €20.00 to €40.00 generally keep three to five years, and single-plot wines above that, aged twelve months or more in barrel, keep five to ten years. As Pinot Noir has little tannin, it is its acidity that carries it over time, not its structure.

Because Pinot Noir is also used as a blending grape. Four bottles in the section are sparkling wines in which it plays a supporting role: a vintage Sutto prosecco rosé blended with Glera, a Methode Cap Classique from Groot Constantia, an extra brut from Caelum and a brut nature rosé from Otronia. Two reds are also blends, one Argentine with Malbec and Bonarda, the other Austrian with Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch. The other 182 bottles are varietal Pinot Noirs.