Pinot Noir: A Wine for Lions and for Lambs

March is a month famously tagged as coming in like a lion, and going out like a lamb. March is also the month when wine growers in the Northern Hemisphere take to ploughing their vineyards, in preparation of the growing season to come. What better way to celebrate this introduction to spring, then, than with a bottle of Pinot Noir, a wine both strong and gentle, and one of the most famous reflectors of terrior, the earth from which it comes?

Pinot Noir is a grape originally from the Burgundy region of France, but has spread worldwide. Now, Pinot Noir can be found anywhere from vineyards in New Zealand to restaurants in Argentina to grocery store shelves in Florida. Pinot Noir, though occasionally blended with other grapes, is most successful as the lone variety in bottles. It is a wine whose popularity lies in its incredibly malleable nature – it can be deep, earthily complex, or bright, with ripe fruit, or even singing of brioche and toasted almonds when it is a pale, bubbly Champagne.

Though all grapes take on different characteristics when grown in different regions of the world, and wine styles reflect the choices of the wine maker, Pinot Noir seems to take these variables to the extreme. Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned, relatively early ripening grape. If planted somewhere too hot, it will ripen too quickly, and not develop its many fascinating flavor compounds. If, however, the growing, harvesting, and wine making techniques are done just right, Pinot Noir will convey the subtle but very real differences between even the smallest plots of land. (This may not be as important if you are simply opening a bottle for your family dinner, but makes for interesting cocktail party conversation, and even more interesting wine tasting occasions.)

Tannins hide in the skin of grapes; Pinot Noir’s thin skins mean that it is a relatively low-tannic red wine. The result is a smooth, velvety wine, and one that will not overpower many foods (unlike its strong and stately cousins, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz), but can also stand up to strong flavors. It is a wine, though light-bodied, often with deep complexities and surprising power. If you are looking for a wine that will please the most lamb-like of drinkers, as well as the lions, Pinot Noir is the way to go.