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HISTORY of PINOT NOIR
Pinot Noir, one of the oldest wine grape
varieties, was
cultivated by the Roman Catholic Church from the first century A.D. in
the
Burgundy region of northern France.
Used for the sacraments, this wine was held in the highest esteem by
the
Romans. The Pinot grape came to be grown in many countries under
many
names, with uneven results, but the consistently great wines came
primarily
from the little sliver of hillside in Burgundy
known in English as the "Slope of Gold." The “heartbreak grape”
was and is considered the most difficult grape to grow and Pinot Noir
wine the
most difficult wine to produce well.
During the French Revolution in the 18th
century, the new
French government confiscated the vineyards from the Roman Catholic
Church and
gave them to the villagers in that area who had cultivated them.
So
diluted were the holdings that one family might own only one row in one
vineyard and one small vineyard might have 20 owners. This
collaborative
ownership of the Pinot Noir vineyards continues to this day in France.
Early
efforts were made to bring this grape to California:
Buena Vista tried growing Pinot in the late
19th century and a number of winegrowers brought the Pinot grape to the
Napa
Valley
in the 1930s. But the climates in which these efforts were made
were not
suitable for Pinot; it thrives in areas of foggy nights and sunny days.
And
then…….
Russian
colonists settled the Sonoma County
coast in the early 1800’s and established the first vineyard in the Russian River Valley
at a Russian farm near Graton in 1836. Italian
immigrants then developed many more
vineyards in the Russian
River Valley
throughout the 19th century. The
phylloxera epidemic in the first part of the 20th century led to a
decline in
winegrowing here; Prohibition, followed by the Great Depression, led to
further
decline.
In the
1960s interest in winegrowing
revived and grape growers in the Russian River
Valley
looked to introduce new grapes which would be suited to the area's
climate. An analysis of French winegrowing
areas led
to the conclusion that Burgundy, with
the
coolest and most northern vineyards in France,
had the climate most similar to the Russian River
Valley. And thus Pinot Noir found a new home in Northern California.
Joseph
Swan began growing Pinot Noir in the late 1960s, producing a crude,
spicy wine
in his Forestville vineyard at the eastern end of the Russian River Valley. Tom Dehlinger began producing Pinot wines
from his vineyard to the south on Guerneville Road. Winemaker Merry
Edwards of Mount Eden and
Matanzas Creek was another pioneer in growing and producing Pinot Noir
in her
vineyard near Forestville. Bob Cabral of Williams-Selyem began aging the
Pinot grapes in new French oak and contributed a stylish wine with high
fruit
notes.
Gary
Farrell, a self-taught winemaker who began producing wine in his
garage,
brought Pinot Noir to a magnificent level by concentrating on old vines
and
early harvest, beginning with his 1978 Davis Bynum Westside Road
Pinot Noir and
continuing to his present day wines made under his own label.
By
the late 1980’s, Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs had reached the
greatness and
consistency of their French counterparts and are now world-class wines. Now dozens of winemakers in the Russian River Valley
bring forth wines that are truly divine. Complex,
often sublime, the greatest of these wines
are simply without equal.
Here is a
Short Knowledge Quiz.
How
good was your retention of these facts and the History of Pinot Noir.
- Where in History is the
PINOT NOIR first found? OK
here's help
- When was Pinot Noir first
cultivated in the Old World? OK
here's help
- When and Where was Pinot
Noir first introduced in the New Word?
- What European Country is
the “Slope of Gold” in?
OK
here's help
- Why was Pinot Noir
considered the “Heartbreak Grape”?
Help
- Who & where did the
first colonists settle with Pinot Noir? Help
