Pinot Noir (Pinot Noir)

Also known as: Spätburgunder (Germany), Pinot Nero (Italy), Blauburgunder (Austria)

No grape variety polarises quite like this one. Those who love Pinot Noir seek something other than saturation – rather the opposite: transparency, permeability, the feeling of looking through the wine onto the place where it grew. Burgundy has perfected this idea, but it works everywhere someone listens rather than intervenes.

Bertram Baltes on the Ahr shows it on slate, Franz Keller on the Kaiserstuhl on volcanic rock, Trapet in Gevrey-Chambertin on limestone. Three soils, three completely different wines – and yet one recognises the signature of the grape.