A paean to Pinot Noir

A paean to Pinot Noir

‘Only someone who really takes the time to understand Pinot’s potential can then coax it into its fullest expression’ Miles Raymond, Sideways

We’re jumping the gun somewhat here, as International Pinot Noir Day isn’t technically until the 18^th.

But since life’s too short to read newsletters on a Monday or Tuesday, whereas a Friday lunchtime wine read is civilisation incarnate, we’re making an early start. 

Besides, if there’s any grape that deserves more than a single day of celebration, it’s Pinot Noir.

A hard grape to grow

There can’t be many more evocative celebrations of a grape than the ode to Pinot Noir that Paul Giamatti’s character gives in the film ‘Sideways’.

So compelling, in fact, that the film had a meaningful impact on the Pinot Noir market both in America and internationally.

But the nub of his praise is that great Pinot Noir is all the more special because the grape does not make life easy: ‘Thin skinned, temperamental, ripens early … Pinot needs constant care and attention.’

So treasured is Pinot Noir, so – we’re going to quote the film again – ‘thrilling and haunting and ancient’ are its flavours, that winemakers the world over hold it as their holy grail.

But for truly great Pinot Noir only very specific, precious little spots of terroir in tiny pockets of the world will do.

As all Pinot lovers know, it’s all too easy to find examples that feel thin, or too jammy – where the land or the maker haven’t quite found the sweet spot at which Pinot sings like no other grape.

A Perfect Pinot Portfolio

All of which adds up to the reason we are especially proud of the Fells Pinot Noir Portfolio.

We’re unbelievably privileged to work with Pinot specialists both in its ancestral heartland of Burgundy, where Louis Latour and Bouchard have made some of the world’s finest for centuries, and in the regions and appellations where Pinot Noir has found a happy new home.

Our new friends, Pfitscher, in northern Italy, for instance, draw on steep slopes and cool mountain air for stunningly fragrant Pinot Nero, whilst even more recent additions Paul Clüver capture perfect Pino in South Africa’s coolest region, Elgin.

Continuing the all-important theme of ‘cool,’ Dalrymple in Tasmania make some of our favourite and most headily-aromatic Pinots, fashioned by southerly latitudes and cold sea air.

New Zealand’s Central Otago is now long-established as one of Pinot’s ‘sacred spots’, but Two Paddocks were one of the very first to farm there – and are the only winery with Pinot vineyards in all three of Central Otago’s key valleys.

Chile, too, has discovered stunningly Pinot-friendly slivers of land that draw on both Pacific and Andes influence – our friends at Miguel Torres Chile have done exhaustive work to uncover these spots in the name of great Pinot.

And of course there’s Sideways Country itself – coastal California and up into Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where producers like Jackson Family Wines and Wente make the sort of wines that first drew attention to Pinot beyond France.  

A hard grape to grow … but there’s never been more great Pinot available than there is today.

Make sure you’ve a glass in your hand on Tuesday of course … but honestly, in our book, every day is Pinot Day.