Pinot Noir is the wine shape-shifter—it’s elegant yet smooth, fresh yet concentrated, glamorous yet rustic, and pretty yet bold. It pairs as easily with grilled fish as it does with braised meats, making it a wine for all seasons and all reasons. In honor of National Pinot Noir Day, we’re celebrating our 2019 Perique, Pinot Noir Vin de France—a wine that captures Pinot’s complex beauty.
Let’s Talk Pinot
Pinot Noir is known for its versatility. Sip it, pair it, or pour it for a crowd—because it’s a highly accessible red. We’ve even come to refer to it as a “gateway red” because this is the varietal that often wins over white wine lovers and beckons them to the “dark side.”
Leslie Sbrocco, our Director of Sommology, is a huge Pinot lover and she shared her fantastic foodie tips on how to enjoy this red beauty.
Pinot Noir is a wine meant for food. It always shines when paired with dinner so have a “Pinot and Pork” night to celebrate its affinity for everything from bacon to pork loin. Start with savory stuffed mushrooms then move to pork chops and end with a strip of chocolate-covered bacon (oh yes—it’s a thing!) for a decadent night.
Leslie Sbrocco
Perique is glamour in a glass
Pinot Noir’s popularity skyrocketed after the film Sideways (2004), which focused on this varietal as “haunting and brilliant,” a grape like no other.
Here’s more about our 2019 Perique, Pinot Noir Vin de Franc, along with a few fun Pinot Noir facts.
- Fruit for this Pinot Noir was harvested from a village in Languedoc—value central for French varietal wines—the “California/Australia” of France. The area offers the right climate, the right soil, the right elements across the board to produce perfect Old World style reds. This concept of location, the sum of all these growing conditions together, is conveyed in the French term terroir, the single word to know when it comes to Pinot Noir.
- The name “Pinot Noir” is said to derive from the French words for pine and black—pine owing to the shape the grapes take together on the vine, like a pine cone. How fun is that?
- Pinot Noir can be a diva in the vineyard, requiring intensive attention. The challenges of this varietal are far outweighed by its beguiling and lilting personality. It takes well to oak and develops layers with age.
- Some of the world’s most sought-after (and flagrantly counterfeited) wines are decades-old pinots from France’s Burgundy region.
- The late and legendary August Sebastiani described drinking Pinot Noir in this way: “Take a rose in bloom and cut it in half, that dying rose is the essence of Pinot Noir.”
It’s been a while since we’ve had a great Pinot Noir offering—but this is it. Combining a silky texture with vibrancy and earthy, red cherry aromas, Perique captures Pinot’s essence and elegance. Our 2019 Perique is a wine for everyone to enjoy. It’s the perfect red for white wine lovers to slide into and yet it still offers bold red lovers an option when they want something lighter. Celebrate Pinot Noir Day right August 18, and order Perique today!
Stock up now for fall with your favorite Wine Guide or host a Traveling Vineyard wine tasting with friends and family.