Introduction
Following on from our immensely successful and thoroughly eye-opening Bacchus tasting at the end of summer last year, we continue our series of spotlight tasting features with Pinot Noir.
Pinot Noir is a grape that has been crucial to the UK, with it being one of the holy trinity of traditional method 'Champagne' grapes alongside Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. But the grape enjoys profound success on its own all around the world, from the legendary prized wines of Burgundy to the cooler climate success of New Zealand’s Central Otago and Marlborough. Pinot Noir is the 10th most planted grape in the world (source: Wine Folly) and the second most grown grape variety in England. Whilst domestically most of the juice from the Pinot will end up in a Classic Cuvée sparkling blend, a rosé (still or sparkling) or perhaps even a Blanc de Noirs, the grape’s popularity as a single varietal still wine is starting to increase, and some examples in the line-up have won critical acclaim already.
It’s not an easy task to grow Pinot Noir in the UK with the intention of producing a still wine, particularly a red still wine. Our challenging and cooler than usual climate means that only in great vintages will the vines yield a grape with the required ripeness, concentration and sugar levels to make a decent red Pinot Noir. The end result can be thin and uninspiring, but an increasing number of delicate, precise Pinot-based wines are starting to appear, with evocative notes of English summer berry pudding, gentle floral character and even a subtle lick of oak.
And what about White Pinot Noir? If it can be done in sparkling wines, why not still wines? The extraction of the Pinot Noir grape juice with gentle pressing and no skin contact during fermentation results in a strikingly distinctive take on Pinot Noir. In these situations, the grape’s character is strong enough to handle significant implementation of oak ageing. Based on thorough tasting we believe the results are a staggering elevation – a wine of white Burgundy-like complexity, structured by oak but seasoned with the slightest hint of red fruit character. Could White Pinot be the still wine trend to really put our domestic still wines on the map?
And finally we have the lesser known variety of Pinot Noir Précoce, a French word which directly translates as ‘precocious’, or as we sometimes call it in England, ‘Pinot Noir Early’. This early ripening mutation is popular in Germany, where it is known as Frühburgunder, and can ripen around two to three weeks sooner than the standard variety. This gives the winemaker increased flexibility to either harvest earlier to avoid later harvest disease, or have an elongated ripening period resulting in riper grapes even when the weather is not ideal and, crucially, a higher potential alcohol level. Of the four examples we tried, they had an approachable character and at least a couple of these demonstrated a real richness and depth that many of the standard English Pinot Noirs can lack.
Our tasting panel consisted of myself and GBW collaborator Robbie Priddle, our partners, plus a couple of close friends. We were also joined by Sumita Sarma, a prolific wine blogger and wine radio show host. We don't taste blind - instead opting for a structured but social tasting approach, giving us the opportunity to discuss the wines and regional differences, and test out potential food pairings.
THE FINAL VERDICT
Much in the vein of last year’s Bacchus tasting, the collective quality of the wines we tasted, outside of a couple of disappointments, was superb. It’s clear that Pinot Noir can produce excellent quality wines in England (and Wales).
Of the 14 wines we tasted, there were six that stood out as the Pinot Noir's to try. These six wines were all either significantly distinctive or capable of competing with internationally produced Pinot Noir. In all, a truly educational journey through English Pinot, and one that demonstrated the continued maturity and evolution in still English winemaking.
