The Importance of Pinot Noir

In 1986 I made my first Pinot Noir from a half-ton of grapes supplied to me by the Sangiacomo family in Sonoma’s Carneros. I, like so many others who have chased the grail, was ensnarled by the stupefying complexity of fine Burgundy. It is now twenty-two years later, and outside of a couple years in a college and grad school, I have attempted to make Pinot every year.

In those twenty-two years a lot has changed. New clones arrived from France offering the vineyard grower more diversity of plant material. New philosophies regarding tightness of spacing, rootstock, and trellising have emerged which help maximize and refine the quixotic cultivar. The combination of these two factors also led to a realization that Pinot could flourish, and indeed make even more complex wines, in climates previously thought marginal for adequate ripening of any varietal.

The results are stupendous. Gone are many of the thin, mean, astringent Pinot Noirs of the past. Now, expressive Pinots of subtlety and grace emerge from cool-climate vineyards up and down the California coast. I still find myself entangled, from time to time, in the kaleidescoped spider-web of textures, perfumes, and aromatics of fine Burgundy. However, it is with great pleasure that I see the gap narrowing in quality between the finest examples of California Pinot Noir and those of the Cote D’or.

Yet, the successes of the varietal have not come without issues. Following the sploogiastic iterations of Pinot’s greatness in Sideways a great bum-rush occurred on wineries and retailers. In meeting demand it seems that vineyards cannot be planted fast enough. The result is a number of vineyards planted to Pinot that forget all the lessons learned about the varietal in the last 22 years—that great Pinot needs a delicate combination of proper climate, soil, clone, spacing, trellising, etc. etc. There are simply not enough of these rare combinations to satisfy the current vicissitudes of the market.

As a result, though I love Pinot dearly, I tread lightly when it comes to making the varietal for fear of making yet another Pinot Noir from an underwhelming and immature vineyard whose fruit cost necessitates an outrageous bottle price.

It is for this reason that I have limited myself to the one brilliant Pinot Noir vineyard I have found that meets the quality parameters I believe should exist for the grape—Rebecca’s Vineyard in the Russian River Valley.