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The wine
This is one of the finest and most difficult black-grape varieties in the world.
Pinot Noir demands a lot of both vine-grower and wine-maker, its performance is inconsistent, it needs a climate with good night and day temperature variability and, when the conditions and quality of the soil are favourable, it can produce wines of rare elegance.
This is why Pinot Noir is planted is virtually all the world’s wine regions, except in those with a hot climate, where it would produce “cooked” wines with none of the characteristics that have made it so famous. The vine’s origins probably date back almost two thousand years and it was already mentioned as existing in Burgundy in the 4th century ad.
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Generally, the plant tends to bud early, making it susceptible to spring frost and coulure. It is also predisposed to attacks of downy mildew and powdery mildew; this vulnerability lead to widespread clonal selection in the 1970s.
It has an average or average-small, round and trilobate leaf; small (12-15 cm) grape bunch which is cylindrical, often with “wings”, almost compact; medium-sized, spheroid or slightly oval grape berry; blue-black skin of average consistency with a fine bloom.
In Italy, Pinot Nero was only planted in any significant quantity from the second half of the 19th century. The Oltrepò, with its 2000 ha of pinot noir (some 500 of which are for red wines) is certainly the most important zone. This is why Oltrepò wine-makers, and especially Tenuta Mazzolino, chose it as the main variety for making long-maturing, complex and elegant red wine, the symbol of their region’s wine culture and traditions.
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