Most of the material is adapted from the WSET textbook “Wines and Spirits: Looking behind the label” and conversations I had in class. I’m not intending to make this a self-containing reference book, so the contents will most likely be heavily condensed and may not cover everything in the curriculum. From this installment onward the texts will be even more summarised and presented in the form of bullets and tables. Hopefully this will make the notes more useful as a quick reference.

5. Pinot Noir

5.1. Overview 

• Thin skins 
• Light in colour 
• Low to medium tannin 
• Grows well under cool-moderate climate 
  • Red fruit (Strawberry, raspberry, cherry) with hint of animal nuance (wet leaves, mushroom, game, meat) 
  • Too cool: Excessive vegetal flavours (cabbage) 
  • Too hot: Loses delicate flavours, jammy · Common to mature in oak but easily overpowered 

5.2. Premium regions

AOC: Appellation d'origine contrôlée GI: Geographical Indicator

5.3. Bulk-production regions

• Pinot Noir is tricky to grow 
  • There are very few inexpensive sites 
• Most large volume sites such as California (Central Valley), France (Pay d’Oc) are too simply hot for Pinot Noir 
• Most notable successful example is Chile but these tend to be soft and fruity 

5.4. Blends

• Pinot Noir are rarely blended as still wine 
  • A rare example is a Burgundy blend with Gamay
• Most blends are used as a component of sparkling wine, including most Champagnes produced

 
Previous notes on wine and spirit: 

The Cooking Sketchbook #5 | Chardonnay

The Cooking Sketchbook #4 | Basic knowledge about spirits 

The Cooking Sketchbook #3 | Pairing Food with Wine 

The Cooking Sketchbook #2 | Tasting and Evaluating Wine