| Pinot noir is a red wine grape selection of the sort | | | | fermentation methods; yeast strains and is vastly |
| Vitis vinifera. The name can also refer to wines | | | | weighty of its terroir with different regions |
| produced mainly from Pinot noir grapes. The | | | | producing very different wines. Its thin skin |
| name is a derivative from the French words for | | | | makes it exceedingly inclined to bunch rot and |
| pine and black hinting to the varietals' closely | | | | other fungal diseases. The vines themselves are |
| clustered dark purple pine cone shaped clusters of | | | | prone to downy mildew, leaf roll, and fan leaf. |
| fruit. Pinot noir grapes are grown around the | | | | These complications have given the grape the |
| world, typically in the cooler regions, but the grape | | | | status of being difficult to grow. |
| is mostly associated with the Burgundy region of | | | | Pinot noir is an antique variety that may be only |
| France. It is commonly considered to produce | | | | 1-2 generations removed from wild vines. The |
| some of the best wines in the world, but is a | | | | beginning of the variety is vague. In De re rustica, |
| difficult variety to cultivate and transform into | | | | Columella portray a grape variety similar to Pinot |
| wine. | | | | noir in Burgundy during the 1st century A.D., |
| The grape cluster is small and cylindrical, indistinctly | | | | however, vines have grown wild as far north as |
| shaped like a pine cone. Some viticulture historians | | | | Belgium in the days before Phylloxera, and it is |
| believe this shape may have given rise to the | | | | probable that Pinot signifies an independent taming |
| name. Pinot noir have a tendency to produce thin | | | | of Vitis vinifera. The vines of southern France |
| trunks and branches. In the vineyard it is sensitive | | | | may embody Caucasian stock transported by the |
| to light exposure, cropping levels, soil types and | | | | ancient Greeks. |
| pruning procedures. In the winery it is sensitive to | | | | |