Pinot Noir - The Bad News

The previous post was on The Rise of Pinot Noir as it's pretty much come from nowhere in the last twenty years in the U.S. to be the new darling. A couple things are spoiling the party.

Supply-and-demand

There have been a lot of new Pinot vineyards planted in the past twenty years, but it's still not keeping up with the demand for premium Pinot Noir grapes. Pinot shines near the Pacific Coast from Portland OR to Santa Barbara CA; that's something like an 800 mile stretch of cool ocean water keeping the climate right for Pinot (and Chardonnay).

Even so in Sonoma County Pinot Noir grapes are the most expensive hitting about $4,000 a ton. That's about $1,000 more than Cabernet Sauvignon, the next most expensive. Some premium grapes from well known vineyards go for much more. This is a key reason for so many top-notch Pinots going for $60 and up.

One of my favorites. It ain't cheap

Climate change

You can believe in climate change or not, but you can bet grape growers are well aware what just a small increase in average temperatures can do. Wine grapes are sensitive to climate and that's why they only thrive in a few places. Pinot Noir is quite sensitive and only does well in a narrow band of climate averages (and a narrow band of land near the Pacific Coast).

Pinot is a thin skinned grape. Heat spikes near picking time can turn an excellent crop into a mediocre one. A slight climate change of increased temperatures will mean a lot of the Pinot vineyards will be  replanted with something else.

Bad Pinot is easier to make

Some of the fruit is not planted in great locations and produces an inferior wine. These are usually your value Pinot Noirs. Supposedly, the highly popular Meiomi Pinot brand makes about a million cases a year. Well, there isn't that much Pinot to go around. See Mega Purple. Also, an earlier blog post on wine labels.