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Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir Wine Details
Price: $17.00 per bottle

Description: The premier Pinot grape "cépage" of the Burgundy region of France. Recently recognized that the progenitors of the cépage are most likely Traminer and a clonal selection of the ancient Pinot Meunier variety. It appears that the three color variations of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir come from the same genotype. Cherished aromas and flavors often detected in varietal wines include cherry, mint, raspberry, truffles and the ubiquitous gamey odor in new wines often referred to as "animalé" by the french winemaker. Tarsitano Winery Pinot Noir has elegant berries deep middles and subtle chocolate and vanilla undertones.

Varietal Definition
Pinot Noir:
The name is derived from the French words for ‘pine’ and ‘black’ alluding to the varietals' tightly clustered dark purple pine cone shaped bunches of fruit. Pinot Noir grapes are grown around the world, mostly in the cooler regions, but the grape is chiefly associated with the Burgundy region of France. It is widely considered to produce some of the finest wines in the world, but is a difficult variety to cultivate and transform into wine. By volume most Pinot Noir in America is grown in California with Oregon coming in second. Other regions are Washington State and New York.During 2004 and the beginning of 2005, Pinot Noir became considerably more popular amongst consumers in the United States, possibly because of the movie Sideways. Being lighter in style, it has benefited from a trend toward more restrained, less alcoholic wines. It is the delicate, subtle, complex and elegant nature of this wine that encourages growers and winemakers to cultivate this difficult grape. Robert Parker has described Pinot Noir: "When it's great, Pinot Noir produces the most complex, hedonistic, and remarkably thrilling red wine in the world."
Traminer:
Parent grape of the popular Gewurztraminer clone. Still grown in France and in California but almost everywhere has been replaced by its much more intense and spicy offspring clone.
Pinot Blanc:
White grape popular for the dry white wines it produces. Increasingly grown in California, the Northwest, Northeast, Canada.
Pinot Meunier:
Pinot Meunier’s heritage is traced to northern France, where it is particularly important in France’s Champagne region. Here, it is the most planted variety, with acreage roughly equivalent to the acreages of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir combined. It offers youthful fruit character and tart acidity to the traditional blend. However, wines which are predominantly Pinot Meunier tend to be less age worthy. Pinot Meunier is well suited to cool climates, as it buds later than Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. This makes it less susceptible than its more noble partners to frost. It also ripens earlier than Pinot Noir. In North America, Pinot Meunier can be found in New York State’s Finger Lakes region, where it is known as Black Riesling. More notably however, California growers in regions such as Caneros and the Anderson Valley, wishing to produce authentic champagne-style wines, introduced Meunier to the vineyards in the 1980s. Today, most all of the state’s 300 acres of PM reside in the Carneros area. Some work is being


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