From the Old (Ancient) World to the New World

As one of the world’s great wine grapes, Pinot Noir has a fascinating history and one that is somewhat shrouded in mystery. While Pinot Noir is an ancient variety and may have originated in Egypt’s Nile Valley or in North Africa, it earned its reputation for producing some of the world’s most extraordinary wines in Burgundy, where the first reference to the grape dates back to the 14th century. Over the last two centuries, it has been widely propagated, resulting in over a thousand registered clones. Historically, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Meunier were all considered distinct varietals of the “Pinot family,” however recent DNA profiling has shown that all of the above grapes share the same genetic profile.

Pinot Noir Travels the World

The name Pinot Noir likely comes from the French words for pine and black, with pine being a reference to Pinot’s tightly clustered, pinecone-shaped bunches. The tight nature of Pinot’s clusters makes it susceptible to issues like mildew and uneven ripeness. As a result, Pinot has been called the “heartbreak grape,” for the challenges that come with its farming. In fact, referencing the difficulty of growing Pinot Noir, legendary California winemaker, André Tchelistcheff famously said, “God made Cabernet Sauvignon, whereas the devil made Pinot Noir.” Even so, Pinot has migrated from its historic home in the Burgundy region of France and is now grown in almost every cool-climate wine region on earth, including England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland in Europe, Argentina and Chile in South America, Australia and New Zealand in the southern hemisphere, and Canada and the US in North America. Perhaps more than any other grape, Pinot Noir has earned a reputation for reflecting its terroir. From clone and rootstock selection to soil type, elevation, exposure, and climate, the finest Pinot Noirs have a profound ability to express a distinctive and delicious sense of place.

Pinot Comes to America

In the US, the history of Pinot Noir dates back to the 1850s, when early winegrowing pioneers planted the grape in California. By the 1880s it was being grown by Fountaingrove Winery in Sonoma County, at Stanly Ranch in Carneros, and by Gustav Niebaum, who planted the Pinot Noir that would become the basis for the famed Martini Clone at Inglenook. By the 1940s, most of the Pinot in California was planted in Napa Valley, but as an understanding of the grape evolved, planting moved further and further westward to regions like Sonoma County, Anderson Valley, and the Central Coast—cool-climate regions where Pinot Noir was better suited.

MacRostie’s Love Affair with Pinot

While the MacRostie story is rooted in our love of Chardonnay, which is the grape we made our name with, as the other great Burgundian varietal our history with Pinot goes back almost as far. We began our journey with Pinot Noir in the Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley AVAs, where we work with legendary growers like the Sangiacomos, Martinellis, Duttons, and Bacigalupis. Recognized for producing some of the world’s finest Pinot Noirs, these are the regions that catapulted New World Pinot Noir onto the world stage. However, as the US Pinot Noir boom has reshaped the landscape of American wine over the past two decades, we have continued our exploration of great Pinot Noir to exciting new AVAs. This includes nearby regions like the Petaluma Gap, where our acclaimed Nightwing Vineyard is located, Fort-Ross Seaview on the far Sonoma Coast, Anderson Valley to the north, and down south to the Santa Maria Valley on the Central Coast.

While there is no one-size-fits-all way to describe the unique Pinot Noirs from each region, each one brings something special to our portfolio. They also tell the story of our evolving understanding of Pinot Noir and the qualities we prize from the varietal. At MacRostie, because we strive to craft wines that are vibrant and balanced, with soaring flavors and sophisticated structures, we have been thrilled to see more and more great vineyards planted in regions once thought to be too cold, and too difficult, to grow great Pinot Noir. The truth is, Pinot loves a challenge. Grown under cool, stressed conditions, Pinot can exhibit almost otherworldly levels of character and charm, with the nuanced, terroir-inspired aromas and flavors that make savoring a great Pinot both sensual and cerebral. Like a treasure map of California’s greatest cool-climate wine regions, we invite you to explore our portfolio of appellation- and vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs.