Join a group of pinot noir growers and you are likely to hear them talking about Dijon 114, Pommard 5, UCD4 and a whole lot of other somewhat strange names.
What are they talking about?
Clones. Because pinot noir is one of the most fickle grapes to grow and scientists and growers have propagated, over the years, a huge number of clones of pinot noir so that growers can have a greater chance of actually getting the vines to produce great grapes.
It all began in the 1950s before climate change became a thing and when pinot noir was often at the limits of survival in a cool damp year.
A clone is a genetically identical cutting from a parent vine and can be selected for flavour profile, yield and disease resistance – different clones can taste distinct even from the same vineyard. A grower might choose Dijon 113 for its aromatic profile and high acidity, or the Pommard clone to emphasise the tannins and to give the wine more body.
So you can see that deciding to grow pinot noir is not just a case of picking up a few vines from a nursery but understanding which clones are suitable for the vineyard you have and the style of wine you would like to achieve.
As ever, wine is not a simple black and white equation, there are multiple shades of grey.
Once you have chosen which varieties of grapes you wish to grow you have to decide how you are going to grow them. Traditionally, organically or biodynamically.
This might be determined by where you are and how much risk you are prepared to take. If you live at the northerly limits for grape growing where vintages are often hit by cold damp weather you might not have much choice but to farm traditionally – that is with the help of chemicals in extremes of weather.
If you live in southern Europe however, organic growing can be an easy option as most years are likely to be warm and dry. Biodynamic growing is more of an intellectual choice as it takes organic growing several steps further. Growers farming biodynamically are in tune with the cosmos and plant in accord with the planets as well as using what might appear be bizarre treatments for the vines (dung buried in a cows horn for several months for instance).
It is easy to dismiss biodynamic growing as the rantings of left-field wide-eyed lunatics but the proof is in the vinous pudding and many of the wines that have impressed me over the last few years have been made under these principles (last week at home I opened a bottle of stunning red Chinon and it was only when I read the back label properly that I realised it had been made biodynamically).
Your method of farming might also be dictated by just where on the quality ladder your wine is likely to be. A grower in the Riverland region of Australia for instance (which churns out gallons of drinkable but simple fruit-driven cheap wine) is hardly likely to want to follow the intricacies of a grower in grand cru Burgundy because no matter what the Aussie did to his vines they are never going to reach the quality of Bonne Mares or Corton Charlemagne.
You then need to decide if you are going to hand-pick your grapes or get a machine to do it, and how you are going to prune the vines because this will dictate the method of trellising you use. Pruning is essential because otherwise the vines will become a tangled mess and most growers choose to trellis their vines. How they are positioned against that trellis will affect how the vines grow.
It is possible to let the vines do their own thing – this is called ‘bush vine’ and in the winter when there is no vegetation they do look like small bushes – I remember visiting a grower in Morgon in the middle of winter – he grew his vines on the bush vine system – they looked like some lunatic had turned them upside down and that their roots were sticking out of the ground.
Next the grower must consider the size of the crop he wants – the fewer the number of grapes on the vine the greater concentration in the resultant wine but the number of bottles produced will also be smaller.
Then there is irrigation to think about, in most of Europe it is banned, natural rainfall is usually enough, but in Australia for instance it is vital. I spoke to a grower in McLaren Vale who told me his greatest cost over the year was for irrigation water.
Vines do like to struggle and the best wines are often from vineyards where it looks impossible for anything to grow. However, if they lack water and become stressed they will simply shut down and fail to develop.
Density of planting will also affect how a wine tastes. Normally a grower will plant as densely as possible as this stimulates deep root growth and low individual production. Leaf canopies must be managed in summer too – leaves are trimmed and trained to ensure the bunches of grapes receive enough sunlight and have enough air movement to keep rot at bay. A vine that produces lots of leaves is simply wasting its energy.
You will see that a grower has a myriad of choices to make before he crushes a single grape – these choices are vitally important – the great growers will tell you that great wines are made in the vineyard not in the winery.
