Global Pinot Noir News

April 13, 2010. Burgundy loses its grip on Pinot power? Not yet! While Burgundy may still rightly claim to make the best wines from the Pinot Noir grape, French magazine La Revue du Vin Francais has slowly begun to open its readers' minds to the possibility that quality may at least be possible from this variety in other - French - regions. Especially in hot years when the warmest "Grand Cru" sites in Burgundy may be over-cooked, the Pinot Noir vines of cooler Alsace, the Jura, and the Loire thrive. In a warming climate too Pinot Noir producers in these less prestigious (read "less expensive")  regions may also now be scenting a future that could be more lucrative for them. In the magazine's comprehensive tasting of non-Burgundy Pinot Noirs (Edition 540, April 2010), the value-for-money represented by these wines was highlighted as well as the damage to fruit which may be done in Burgundy by hotter summers in the future. That said, offered a choice of the cold and wet/rot-infected harvests of the past or the hot and dry conditions predicted for the future, it's hard to imagine many producers in Burgundy opting for the former. Whatever the future, the editors of La Revue are clearly noticing a change in the environment - and the market - and their interests as a result are straying beyond the frontiers of the classic Pinot Noir region of Burgundy. 

March 2010. The power behind the glory? Devotees of alternative nature explanations will be disappointed at the delays being encountered by French writers Michel Bettane and Jacques Lardiere who blame time shortages for the late composition of their proposed work on "Force fields and the energy of Burgundy's Grands Crus".

March 2010. Burgundy provides model for the cultural values of the future! Writing in the current issue of La Revue du Vin Francais, columnist Jean-Robert Pitte suggests that the burgundian approach to wine whereby each distinct parcel of vineyard is tended, vinified and marketed separately under a unique appellation-name (such as Romanee Conti, etc) provides the ultimate gastronomic antidote to the homogenisation of global food production and consumption. Mr Pitte writes, "With burgundian producers, wine lovers must submit themselves to a great deal of vintage variation. Every given wine from every given vineyard is like the death-defying leap of a trapese artist performing without a net to catch them if they fall. As a result, the burgundian wines that have been honestly made from a given patch of vineyard gains power through its individuality. For the wine lover who has entered into this world of rare complexity every bottle is a discovery, a revelation, and sometimes even a battery of mind-blowing sensations ... Faced with the risk of homegenisation caused by globalisation, the burgundian strategy is an intelligent response. It is an approach which permanently supports the individual genius of a given appellation but with a view to spreading the word about the special personality of this place among all the world's wine lovers. Thus Burgundy is never a drink that loses its identity but remains for perpetuity an expression of the universal and the luxuriant richness of the human condition. Indeed, the mosaic of appellations which make up the greater burgundian vineyard is a true work of art and we must hope that Unesco recognises this agricultural treasure as a many-faceted diamond in its cache of protected cultural riches." Well exactly!

October 6, 2009. Crisis? What crisis? DRC sale pre-empts end of GFC? Chicago auction house Hart Davis Hart saw a return to the peak pre-2009 prices paid for classed growth French wines in its sale of September 16. While the Top 10 list for best sales of the night was dominated by Bordeaux (and bidding predictions for these wines were also smashed) a 12-pack of DRC 1990 weighed in at number 8 when it went for $US26,290 against the most hopeful pre-sale estimate of $24,000. The top spot was taken out by a 6-bottle box of magnums of Ch. Petrus 1982 which nearly realised twice its estimated $35,000. For more, go to Fine Wine Journal online or click here.

October 5, 2009. Victory for organics? The editor of France's "Burgundy Today" magazine ("Bourgogne Aujourd'hui"), Christophe Tupinier, tells us in his preface to the August/September edition that he had been relishing the prospect of hosting a debate between winegrowers from the organic/biodynamic camp and their ideological opponents in the pro-chemical "Green Revolution" camp. Unfortunately, Mr Tupinier explains, while proponents of the chemical-free camp are springing up in every appellation of the Cote d'Or faster than an outbreak of thistles, he said that he and his team of journalists failed to find a single winegrower who was prepared to go on the record in defence of the barrage of synthetic products they use to control fungal disease, pests, nutrient imbalances, etc. Instead, in the "debate" section of the magazine, the closest to an opponent that Mr Tupinier could find to "take on" the greenies was a venerable burgundian who was apparently in the process of converting to organics and was encountering some obstacles along the way (but remained committed nonetheless). That said, while the magazine couldn't find anyone willing to go public with their opposition to the organic hegemony, it was noted that still only 5% of Burgundy's winegrowers have gained organic certification - and there is still widespread uncertainty and disagreement about what should be in the rules for determining who is clean and green. Step forward "Orwine" an EU working party that has come up with a superb document outlining a full practical vision for organic viticulture and winemaking which can be read for free (all 500 pages of it! click here) and which will be used as the guide for forthcoming EU legislation in this field. The Orwine Code of Practice is a wonderful public resource for guidance on how to go green and takes the movement for Organic wine out of the vineyard and into the winery.

September 30, 2009. Burgundy celebrates lucky number 9 with "magnifique" crop for 2009. Vintages ending with a '9' have proven over the decades to be excellent ones for Burgundy - or so the Burgundians think (you could have a look at the e-Robert Parker vintage chart for a difference of opinion on this numeromancy issue http://www.erobertparker.com/info/VintageChart.pdf). Anyway, that's how the Wines of Burgundy marketing machine is tickling our mystical strings this (northern hemisphere) harvest with news of yet another pearler from the Cote d'Or. The quality is so good that they're already making favourable comparisons to 2005, a much-hyped year that, disappointingly, doesn't hold the lucky number 9 anywhere in its four characters. Besides, are the Burgundy 2005s as good as all that? They're certainly structural units and our great grand children may live long enough to enjoy them but, in their youth, they seem to my taste to be tough nuts to crack. Which begs the question, is longevity an essential aspect of a great wine? Can a young wine be as good as a well matured old one? or vice versa? As with too many things, the sensible answer is the boringly diplomatic one which suggests that it all comes down to one's individual taste. So if you are an impatient hedonist who seeks vibrancy and intensity then you may well prefer younger drops and proudly condemn well-cellared treasures as a form of oenological necrophilia. And, conversely, if you think that a young wine is best suited to immature tastebuds then you will more than likely be gratified by the older and harder-to-find vintages. For my money, young wine (2-5 years) has greater individuality/personality and, taken collectively, the young wines of the world therefore better represent the richness/variety of terroir that this planet has to offer. Thus, if you follow my logic and agree that diversity is all (you don't have to agree with me on this one! and I may not agree with me if you asked me again tomorrow!!) then you may also agree that a wine which can be enjoyed young is superior to the same wine 10+ years down the track. On this note, and to win back any Burgundophiles I may have offended earlier on in this piece, I would be surprised if 2009 was not in fact better than 2005 and not simply stepping humbly in the latter's footsteps. It really does sound as if the 09 growing season was ideal but, unlike in 2005, there has been little talk of drought damage to vines on the Cote d'Or this year. And it is the impact of drought in 2005 that, I believe, led to both the palate hardness of Burgundies of that vintage and the general absence of seductive/intriguing aromatics. All winemakers are guilty of talking up the current harvest but the greatest pity of such persistent optimism is that when a real cracker does come along cynics may react to the hype with a raised eyebrow and smile knowingly.

Tom Munro.

July 8, 2009. Oregon Climatologist Greg Jones enters Decanter’s top 50, By John Darling, journalist with Oregon Wine Press.

Climatologist Greg Jones of Southern Oregon University has been named to Decanter magazine’s “Power List”—the top 50 most influential people in the world of wine.

At no. 33, he joins the esteemed company of French Premier Nicolas Sarkozy (no. 9), Joseph Gallo (no. 11) and Bollinger Champagne’s Ghislain de Montgolfier (no. 27) on the coveted list.

The list is published in the July issue of Decanter, a British magazine and one of the top three influential magazines in the wine industry, an event Jones called “humbling.” Members of the list are chosen by international wine critics, merchants and people in the industry.

As an SOU environmental science professor for 12 years, Greg Jones—the son of Earl Jones of Abacela in Roseburg—has pioneered the marriage of climatology and viticulture in Oregon and globally, making possible an understanding of the spreading effects of climate change on the wine industry.

When his father planted Abacela Vineyard in 1995, he drew his son, who was engaged in his PhD research at the time, to come and fill a huge need for data on which to predict growing times and varietals that would fit with the state’s many climates.

Jones asked the federal government for new and more specific appellations for Southern Oregon and set up a network of 29 reference vineyards in the region, which are monitored and serve as a fount of data for the industry.

He also contributed to the report of the International Panel on Climate Change, which, along with former Vice President Al Gore, won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. The IPCC established the connection between human activity and climate change, which, until then, had been questioned in many quarters.

“I’ve had people say wine studies are superfluous and don’t matter to society,” said Jones. “Al Gore may have popularized global warming but people say it (the predictions of wine’s future in a warmer world) may have greater impact. They bring the topic home and people understand it better.”

Jones conducts applied research for the grape and wine industry in Oregon, has given hundreds of presentations on wine-related research in Oregon and all over the world, and is the author of many journal and magazine articles, with two books in progress.

Harry Peterson-Nedry, owner of Chehalem Winery in Newberg said, “His contributions (to viticulture) are very foundational to our understanding the climate we’re working in. We thought we knew it, but he added a great deal of technical insight and he has an interest in the wine business. That’s driven some of his passion. He’s able to put across difficult concepts.”

Jones built on global warming data to spell out implications for the future of Oregon wines, noted Peterson-Nedry, “and how varietal change is going to have to happen, as well as shifts to higher elevations for growing.”

Dick Ellis, owner of Pebblestone Vineyards, located west of Phoenix, Ore., said Jones’s data on terroir and growing degree days has laid a baseline for grapegrowers, telling them clearly what will grow now and what will grow in warmer times.

“I felt extremely lucky to study something people have great interest in, especially when it’s an important aspect of society and brings in climate change. Very few climatologists were studying this,” said Jones.

Jones’s research and data have helped Southern Oregon wines branch out into a broad array of varietals to match the region’s many micro-climates, but he predicts a winnowing down to under 10 varietals in the coming decade or two.

His global warming research points to a one- to three-degree increase that will greatly exacerbate water supply issues, and “any change beyond that will take us places we’ve never been before.” ◊

For more current news from Oregon, I would highly recommend a visit to the Oregon Wine Press website. TSM.

Burgundy sales - and prices - heading south in 2009. Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say, and the global recession is no different. Reuters news agency reports that week economic conditions are forcing producers in Burgundy to moderate their prices to keep cashflow going. Click here for the full article.

New Burgundy importer for Australia. Eurocentric Wines, a Sydney-based importer of European wines, is pleased to announce the arrival of its first shipments of wine for the Australian market. There are some exciting new names from Burgundy, including young gun David Clark. I met the latter vigneron - a former F1 racing engineer - in 2005 and got to taste his debut vintage from barrel - extraordinary stuff! David was drawing Gamay from a humble Morey St Denis village site but the wine was black, intense and delicious. Eurocentric has also found many other new names to discover from Burgundy and a shrewd selection of other delicacies from Champagne, Chablis, the Mosel... Go to www.eurocentricwine.com.au for the full portfolio. 

Burgundy signs wine trade deal with giant Chilean wine region, On a recent trip to France, the Chilean President - whose family traces its origins to Chassagne Montrachet - set up a long term deal with Burgundy. To read the full Decanter article, click here. I am now hoping that it will come to light that Australian PM Kevin Rudd's family can trace its roots back to Vosne-Romanee! June 10, 2009.

Napa big guns jump on Pinot band waggon. Elite Napa Valley Cabernet producer Far Niente has just unveiled its first ever wine from Pinot Noir. Decanter.com reports that Far Niente's latest move to capitalise on the Sideways effect is not a first for California. Click here for the full Decanter article.

Jancis Robinson meets the world's most fastidious Pinot Noir winemaker in Martinborough, NZ. 01.06.09 Producers of Pinot Noir are known to be a fussy  bunch but ex-diplomat for Japan Hiro Kusuda has taken being picky to new heights - and Jancis was impressed! Click here for the full article.

Legendary Burgundy negociant quits. 01.06.09 Nicolas Potel, one of the biggest hitters in the Burgundy wine game, has quit his business. The story is covered at the website of Clive Coates MW. Click here for more . And talking of Clive Coates, the latest (2008) edition of his landmark Wines of Burgundy book is now available through Amazon.com.

Oregon awaits release of 2008 Pinot's under new certification for sustainable wine, 22 May 2009. Oregon (USA), one of the world's leading Pinot Noir producing regions, has announced a new and unified system for the way in which wineries communicate to consumers their environmental credentials. In a Wine Spectator (www.winespectator.com) article that has been published on the Oregon wine region website (click here for the full article) it is described how wine lovers were becoming confused by all the different certifications wineries were claiming. Now, under the new system, wineries who make the grade will carry the single "Oregon Certified Sustainable Wine" logo.

Adventures in Burgundy, a new book by Lincoln Russell, reviewed online by Jon Wyand for Fine Wine Magazine, 13.05.09.

"Who better to review a book of photographs of Burgundy, you may think, than a professional photographer who has been visiting there for ten years? The problem is that I suspect any photographer who visits Burgundy harbors the ambition of producing his own book, and I am no exception. CanI therefore be fair and dispassionate?" Click here for the rest of the review Adventures in Burgundy review.

Historic launch of New Zealand's first fully Biodynamic Pinot Noir,08.05.09.

For more information on this unusual Pinot Noir, go to Daily Wine News: http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=2501

Why does top Pinot from Oregon cost so much?05.05.09

Click here to go to the Oregon Wine Press article on this important and often bemusing issue. http://www.oregonwinepress.com/index.php?pr=0409_14_WineRetail

The world's biggest Pinot event in 2010 - are youcoming? 05.05.09

Email:  tamara@avenues.co.nz

Jancis Robinson on the virtues of Australian Pinot Noir. 29.04.09

Click here to read Jancis Robinson's superb article: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/08dd82f8-09dd-11de-add8-0000779fd2ac.html

Maison Drouhin sales director branches out,29.04.09 (Source, www.journee-vinicole.com).

"Domaine Chanzy in Bouzeron has been bought by Sportys, a sports rights management company, in partnership with Jean-Paul Dumond, sales director at Maison Drouhin. The estate boasts 38 hectares under vine in the Côte Chalonnaise area (Bouzeron, Rully, Mercurey) though also in Puligny-Montrachet, Santenay 1er Cru and Vosne-Romanée. Domaine Chanzy is a flagship winery in the area. Its new owners, who share a common passion for rugby, have vowed to maximise the potential of these “excellent terroirs”. Yields will be reduced, individual plots will be vinted separately, the grapes will be harvested in crates and sorted before entering the winery. Bertrand Lacour becomes the estate’s new manager."

Positive spin on Burgundy sales figures (Source, www.journee-vinicole.com), 29.04.09.

"The recession has yet to have a significant knock-on effect for growers in Burgundy, according to sales figures for the first five months of the financial year starting August 1st 2008. Overall, ex-cellar sales were just slightly down (-2.8%) year-on-year, though growth in some categories offset declines in others. Crémant de Bourgogne sales, for example, continue to expand, rising 10.5% on the previous year, whilst sales of red (-3%) and white wines (-5.3%) dropped. Although slack sales in the global marketplace have so far spared growers, divergent trends in the fortunes of the various appellation groups reveal a change in buying habits to accommodate the economic crisis. Hence, whilst the Villages and Grands Crus appellations have dropped quite significantly (-7% for whites, -8% for reds), the regional appellations have fared better, particularly the reds which rose by 3.3%."

Cloudy bay shake-up as LVMH prepares for carve up.

From Decanter.com, 28.04.09, by Chris Snow in Adelaide

New Zealand winery Cloudy Bay has restructured its winemaking team, abolishing the position of senior winemaker.

Eveline Fraser, senior winemaker, has been made redundant, and other staff winemakers have taken charge of specific varieties as the company searches for an operations winemaker.

Kevin Judd, who co-founded Cloudy Bay 25 years ago, remains a consultant. Judd announced in December that he would step down as managing director and chief winemaker.

Cloudy Bay is part of Estates and Wines, Moët Hennessy's wine division.

Rob Remnant, vice-president for Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, confirmed that a result of 'a fairly substantial restructure', Nick Lane and Tim Heath were now in charge of winemaking.

Lane, who has been at Cloudy Bay for seven years, is in charge of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and the management of winemaking environmental issues while Heath, who joined the winery five years ago, is responsible for Sauvignon Blanc, other varietals and Pelorus sparkling wine.

The operations winemaker will handle planning, scheduling and operating procedures.

Recent reports have indicated that Moët Hennessy owner LVMH has proposed the sale of its wine and spirits division to Diageo.

Burgundy to create extraordinary Pinot Noir "Clone Library". In a bid to protect the diversity of Pinot Noir (and Chardonnay) clones in existence, scientists in Burgundy have announced (www.vins-bourgogne.fr/gallery_files/site/289/1910/6192.pdf) the creation of a major programme that will not only catalogue the genetic characteristics of every known clone of its two most famous grape varieties, but also construct epic greenhouses in which to grow living examples of every one of the 2 to 3,000 clones believed to be in existence! Scientists will also spend the next 4 years working in partnership with the best known Burgundy domaines to discover what new clones they may have created in their own vineyards courtesy of the "selection massale" approach to vine propagation. It is especially hoped that when particularly out-performing vines are discovered, then these vines will be handed over to the scientists when the owner domaine decides that it is time to replace them with younger and more productive vines. This major survey of clonal material will allow winegrowers to adapt to our changing climate by the selection of, say, heat resistant clones that may be discovered in the course of the scientists' research.

Central Otago winery rated as best Pinot Noir at International Wine Challenge, London www.foodmag.com.au/Article/World-s-best-pinot-noir/174834.aspx

For a Pinot Noir specialist retailer, go to www.pinotnow.com.au/html/s01_home/home.asp  

French producers in Pinot fraud scandal.

The phenomenal growth in sales of Pinot Noir to  the USA following the success of movie Sideways has led major players in the South of France to fraudulently label as Pinot Noir red wine made from other less in-demand varieties, writes Vitisphere.com. The French website reports that as much as 1,2 million litres of “Pinot  Noir” from the Vin de Pays d’Oc region had been exported to the USA every year for the last four years. Skulduggery was suspected when it became apparent that only 500,000 litres of Pinot Noir are made in the Vin de Pays d’Oc region each year! The rapid growth in demand for Pinot has been  attributed to the surprise success of Sideways in which the audience follows the highs and lows of a Californian Pinotphile. At the heart of the scandal is wine merchant Ducasse that sourced bulk wine from producers and then sold it to winery Sieur d’Arques who then exported the wine to Pinot-thirsty Americans. It is not yet clear who was leading the scam and an official investigation has been launched. For more (in English), go to http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=276644.

Burgundy crop drop in harvest 2008.

The Burgundy generic marketing body (the “BIVB”) has announced that the 2008 harvest in Burgundy yielded 193 million bottles of wine from vineyards totalling 27,626 hectares. This represents a 5.3% decline from output in 2007 and a 4.4% fall below the five-year average. With the exception of the heatwave-affected 2003, 2008 was the smallest overall Burgundy harvest since 1998 and the smallest red wine harvest for the region since 1984. The BIVB reports that in 2008, 60% of all wine made in Burgundy was white, 29% red and 9% sparkling (the sparkling category being the only one to see growth in 2008).

Jancis Robinson on Burgundy2007.

Follow this link to find out more on the latest releases from Burgundy:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c4d4ddf4-e8da-11dd-a4d0-0000779fd2ac.html and click on this for Jancis’ thoughts on who are the most influential contemporary negociants in Burgundy:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7d6a3aec-ee5a-11dd-b791-0000779fd2ac.html

Wine Spectator on Oregon: Get to know or just get up to date with America’s leading Pinot region. www.oregonwine.org/Resources/Category/0001/0004/78/diversity.pdf