Pinot Noir-Then and Now

The state of California Pinot Noir compared to red Burgundy as of July 2005.

What a difference a year can make! It's been almost a year since we wrote about the current status of California Pinot Noir

and made some comparisons to red Burgundy. In that article we identified some of the factors that have raised New World Pinot Noir to competitive levels: vineyard sites, clonal selection and winemaking techniques.

We published the result of our survey of 970 red Burgundy wines offered in U.S. retail markets and found that California Pinot Noirs were currently being offered at half the price of comparably rated red Burgundy wines. Are Pinot Noirs from France really worth twice the price of domestic examples?

Our current article focusses on the results of a blind tasting of New World vs. French Pinot Noirs.