Wine to buy this week: The very best Pinot Noir on the shelves
Last week it was Pinot Noir Day and, though I am sorry not to have forewarned you, I can reassure you that I thoroughly celebrated and am able to recommend the best to buy right now.
Pinot Noir is known as the ‘Heartbreak Grape’. It is stubborn, unpredictable, sensitive and tantrum-inducingly difficult to grow. Yet it is still harvested across the world because this thin-skinned goddess of a grape creates the most spectacular wines.
As hard as it might be for the growers, these wines are a blessing for drinkers.
Burgundian Pinot Noir
Here is a wine of flavour and grace that can pair with everything from red meat to mushrooms. It is a natural partner for duck and pork, but its low tannins mean it slips down with dishes usually reserved for white wines – fish, soft cheeses, warm salads.
This is a wine served with many or the greatest meals. It is the grape that produces the red wines of Burgundy, some of the most expensive in the world. But it is just as beautiful when put to use by other countries. New Zealand is a phenomenal country for Pinot Noir, bringing aromatic elegance and spice to the grape. Seifried Pinot Noir (VINVM £18.50) has gravitas with a savoury earthiness enlivened by piquant red cherry. Further South is the cool climate of Tasmania, a region that is shooting up in the wine world for its sparkling wines, but their delicate reds are not to be ignored.
South African sun-ripened freshness
The Dalrymple Vineyards is more famous for its Pinot Noir (The Wine Society £33). It opens to a satisfying smack of frazzle crisps and there is a smoke, herbal whispers with bright cranberry bursts underpinning it. Germany’s Pinot Noir, often referred to as Spätburgunder, typically shows precision and a finely-honed structure.
The M&S Palataia (Ocado £10) is a lovely svelte example of refined red berries and finesse that is pocket-friendly too. I have visited Cramele Recas in Romania and discovered the country can grow the most brilliant Pinot Noir but, as the style isn’t popular there, they export most of it. Lucky us. The Incanta (Majestic £10.50) sources its grapes from Macedonia and they are also superb. This is a bold, bright wine with a hint of baking spice to give it a dash of complexity.
South African wines never let me down with their sun-ripened suppleness and freshness. The Paul Clüver Village (Ocado £17.50) is velvet soft with a sophisticated expressiveness. A wine for food or to sip as the evening closes in. One grape, so many different guises. Pick up a bottle for a belated celebration this week.
Pinot Noir recommendations
Squerryes Rosé 2022, £45: Hedonism Summer’s desire for sparkling pink is still going strong, and this traditional method fizz is bright with peaches and rose hips with a long finish. Squerryes is an established English winery, not too far from London and with an excellent restaurant and bar.
Domaine de Chantegrive Chasselas Blanc, Laithwaites, £19: We get very little Swiss wine here, so this is something a bit different. A food-friendly Alpine white from the slopes around Lake Geneva, the Swiss usually keep it for themselves so snap up this fresh, generous treat of a wine.
Terrazas de los Andes Chardonnay, £17, Ocado: Argentina produces some of the silkiest, fruit-forward Chardonnay around. The high mountain slopes keep the wines refined and elegant and the superb winemaking calls to mind lemon squeezed over ripe papaya, rounded out with whisps of vanilla.