The Rise of Pinot Noir

Anyone that's been around wine for a couple decades has seen a major trend; something not seen since the 1970s.



The History

Tom Dehlinger's Pinot Noirs
started it for me

Around the time of the Judgment of Paris Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon ascended the throne as queen and king of American wine. If you go back to just the 1960s Petite Sirah was Napa's predominate grape. Then everything changed as people realized California could make something besides two dollar rotgut.

In the 70s and 80s you'll find some California Pinot Noir being produced and most wasn't very good. People didn't know where to grow it (it was mostly planted in too warm of a region). People didn't know how to make it (it's different than Cab).

Sure, there were a handful of people who figured it out earlier, such as Williams Selyem and Hanzell right here in Sonoma County, but mostly it was an oddball wine.

The Rise

Then something happened back near the turn of the millennium as many new producers were specializing in Pinot. I took a wine retailing class at the local college about this time. The instructor had been in the local wine biz forever and he was talking about the different grapes planted in Sonoma County. When he looked at the acreage of new Pinot Noir vineyards he just shook his head wondering where all these grapes were going to go probably muttering to himself, "Sonoma County is about Zinfandel."

Then there was the movie Sideways that got a lot of the blame for killing off Merlot sales and pushing Pinot Noir to the top. That's all just slightly true as Merlot was already dying and Pinot was coming on anyway.

Why Pinot Noir

One of the new breed of
cold climate Pinots

Cabernet Sauvignon is about big and bold and maybe tannic. It's masculine and it ain't no light-hearted wine. Pinot Noir, when done right, is about finesse, subtlety, and it might even be called feminine. There's great differences in the clones of Pinot. The wines can vary greatly from vineyard to vineyard. All of this makes the "study" of Pinot Noir so interesting and keeps people coming back to try different ones.

In Sonoma County you can see a stark difference between Pinots from Carneros, Russian River, and the (true) Sonoma Coast. If you spent enough time within one of these growing areas you might have favorite vineyards. And a favorite vineyard might be more important than the winery or winemaker it comes from.

Pinot Noir is great with lighter foods and people are trending towards eating lighter. 

This will all help to keep Pinot Noir popular for a long time. The days of Cabernet Sauvignon being the only game in town are over.