The devil made pinot noir. Or so said André Tchelistecheff, the Russian soldier and refugee turned oenologist and winemaker who mentored Robert Mondavi, Warren Winiarski, Michael Silacci and other pioneers of modern California winemaking (get a load of these luscious eyebrows). I would like to play, literally, the devil’s advocate, and point out that devil is not inherently evil, simply an archetype whose purpose is to illuminate an individual’s personal will, resolve, or decision-making process—a convention-breaker who asks questions, investigates the why, and is engaged with the quality of disruption. In propagating the delicate, heart-breaking pinot noir grape, the devil was testing the will of vignerons everywhere, forcing them to investigate deeply their intentions and methods, and, in the course of conceiving such a singular fruit, illuminating possibilities that resulted in some of the most storied wines of all time (see: Burgundy).

Pinot noir translates to “black pine,” named so for its color and shape. It’s thin-skinned and delights in dramatic diurnal shifts of warmth and cold, this prone nature a double-edged sword; on one hand, it’s vulnerable to disease and moisture, and on the other, it can express the nuance of soil, weather, air currents, and the farmer who shepherds it into ripeness like no other fruit. If you’ll entertain personification, I can’t help thinking pinot noir a grape akin to Virginia Woolf: a channel of intricate, cerebral flow, a deeply attuned individual whose sensitivity revealed a lens for conceiving of some of the canon’s greatest literature, whose straddling of dark and light was both thrilling and heartbreaking. Beauty, in its most truthful form is both radical and devastating, and everything in between. (PS: We have an All Souls Book Club, which is currently reading Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, and everyone is always invited.)

Last night, at the shop, we galloped into the deepest recesses of Burgundy with a two-hour class hosted by the very elegant and electric Sophia Charow of Rosenthal Wine Merchant, a legendary importer pivotal in building the reputation of Burgundy as we know it today. As you probably know, the most storied red Burgundy is made from pinot noir, considered to be the pinnacle manifestation of the grape. I’m here to tell you that, this month, we are going beyond Burgundy to bring you pinot noir off the beaten path, pinot noir that challenges the conception of its spiritual home, pinot noir in which the devil would most definitely delight.

That said, once you’ve drunk this wild little spectrum of wines, stop in and let’s talk Burgundy. We have a small library of the stuff (perfect for holiday entertaining and gifting), and once you’re at ease in the electricity of disruption, it’s all the more satisfying to be received into the elegance of luxury. Until, of course, the devil arrives back at your doorstep, beckoning. —Leslie Pariseau

Division-Villages "Méthode Carbonique" Pinot Noir, Oregon 2023

In 2008, Thomas Monroe and Kate Norris, financial and event planning individuals by trade, were floundering in the face of the recession and took an opportunity to work with a family friend in the Loire Valley. Already wine enthusiasts, here they began immersing themselves in the real work of winemaking and viticulture. They worked their way through Burgundy, Beaujolais, and the Loire, carving out a deep reverence for pinot noir, gamay, and chardonnay, one that they brought back to the U.S. where they changed careers and set down roots in the Willamette Valley and Portland, Oregon.

The Willamette is a gem of a location for agriculture, the valley floor around the Willamette river a haven for berries and nuts while the hills and surrounding mountain slopes are perfect for grapes, in particular pinot noir. A temperate growing season with marine influences from the Pacific in combination with the volcanic and marine sediment soils are a chef's kiss for the delicate pinot grape. 

Kate and Thomas’s Méthode Carbonique Pinot Noir is fresh, lively pinot. Its flavors of crunchy cranberry skins, night blooming flowers, and delicate forest floor might have you dancing under a full moon around a bonfire this fall. Carbonic maceration, the fermentation process this wine goes through wherein C02 is trapped with the juice, is often associated with freshly harvested grapes and quickly fermented wine, resulting in juicy, easy farmers wine. Division’s Méthode Carbonique captures the more complex side of this process, but with the original energy of its progenitor, Beaujolais nouveau—a pinot noir perfect for Beaujolais season. —Cassandra Vachon

Rolly Gassmann "Pinot Noir" Alsace, France 2019

Noble grapes—chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, riesling, cabernet, merlot, and pinot noir—are so named for their heightened ability to express the nuance of the terroir in which they are grown as well as reflecting with precision the way in which they are vinified. They are prisms of the time and place these berries have experienced budbreak, flowering, veraison, and, eventually, harvest.  

However, growing and vinifying “blue blooded” varietals doesn’t necessarily guarantee the resulting juice will be, in any way, noteworthy or even palatable (see: the last two decades of Mondavi cab, the cannon of Belle Glos, most domestic sauvignon blanc). It requires care taken in the vineyards year round (cover crops, mindful pruning, astral considerations) as well as a deft hand in the cellar (indigenous yeast ferments only, extended bottle aging) for wine to display the height of its identity.

Rolly Gassman accomplishes this with so many of its bottlings, including its singular Alsatian pinot noir. The tiny village of Rorschwir, south of Strasbourg, bumps up against the Rhine River and the Vosges Mountains. The region of Alsace is equally French and Germanic and has changed hands repeatedly throughout the years. Once dominated by the Habsburgs (like most things in the region), it appears a set from The Sound of Music, all raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.  

Domaine Rolly Gassman has been diligently tending to vine here since 1611 and only recently expanded their holding to 51 hectares (126 acres). Working with primarily indigenous German varieties (riesling, auxerrois, gewurtztraminer,  the domaine grows a minute amount of pinot noir in a high altitude vineyard studded with sandstone and granite. A cooler climate site exposed to the winds funneling down the Vosges range, the vineyards here are harvested much later to achieve peak ripening. Rolly Gassman’s philosophy is to almost never interfere with the vines relying on cover crops such as lavender and thyme to protect the 21 distinct types of soil present here.

Long and cool fermentation (four to six months) sparked by natural yeast gathered on the berries’ skins is followed by a minimum of 11 months aging.  Many vintages are held back for years resulting in wines with opulence and delicacy; the last vintage we had before the 2019 was 2011. The 2019 shows opaque ruby in the glass with cedar, evergreen menthol, violets, and cherry on the nose. Soft tannins give structure to the finish with a hint of raspberry and dark chocolate, versatile enough to pair with steak or sushi. This is the last of the vintage we received. Treasure it. —Drew Clowney

Ashanta "Callisto" Pinot Noir Blanc, Round Valley, California 2022

If you are a frequent visitor to our shop (and a dedicated club member), you have most likely dipped into a bottle of Ashanta led by Chenoa Ashton-Lewis and Will Besanta. With ancestral roots from Sicily and New Orleans that eventually dug deep into the soils of California, Ashton-Lewis is a 5th generation winemaker who forged her own path in natural wine, honoring her grandfather's land in the Sonoma Valley. After wildfires destroyed her family's Glen Ellen property in 2017, she discovered that many of the vines, thought to be charred beyond saving, were in fact, viable, marking the start of her personal winemaking journey. Her pinot noir blanc is a continuation of what seems to be an intuitive pursuit of revealing what lies beneath. 

Pinot noir as a white wine has equal complexity and age-worthiness to chardonnay (please see: blanc de noir champagne). By removing the skins and fermenting the juice alone, a bright new wine emerges.The grapes for this cuvée came from a once experimental vineyard site planted by John Parducci in 1989. Known as the “godfather” of Mendocino wine, Parducci wanted to test the viability of the unique continental (not maritime) climate of Round Valley near Covelo, California. Sitting at 1,400 feet elevation revealed only by a steep, arduous climb, the site, which experiences serious diurnal temperature changes, demands a thirst for discovery. Thankfully, with the help of her family friend and mentor Tony Coturri, Ashton-Lewis has pursued the adventure of sourcing from such a treasured site. 

The grapes were gently pressed directly into stainless steel drums with not a hint of color from the skins allowed to pass. It’s then aged on its lees (the spent yeasts) undisturbed for 21 months. My most recent and very full pour (I did not share!) had rich notes of pineapple curd, lemon verbena, with a sprinkle of salt and a gentle zip. —Beth Altenbernd

Stein "Rosécco" Sparkling Rosé, Mosel, Germany 2024

Ulli Stein is an angel among us. I know because I had the privilege of tasting with him at his home at Haus Waldfrieden in the Mosel Valley. When we arrived, we had mixed up our appointment times and were unexpected, but we were greeted and treated with great generosity, our one-hour time slot stretching into several, as we sat enjoying the fine weather and the Stein family dog. 

Stein has a deep respect for the traditional ways of producing steeply terraced sites, so steep in fact, they cannot be trellised or surmounted by any mechanical tool and, for the average climber, likely induce vertigo. Though the method of winemaking is traditional, do not be fooled: Stein has a rebellious streak and is prone to experimentation. In fact, while tasting with him, he produced a cheeky bottle of sangiovese (an illegal grape in the region), one of the grapes he’s been experimenting with due to climate change. In fact, he’s helped to change legislation to allow for red grape production (including cabernet sauvignon and merlot) in the Mosel, which had been outlawed since World War II.

Pinot noir is the most important red varietal grown in Germany finding its way there in the Middle Ages. Traditionally, it’s most popular in the south, but has become increasingly popular in the rest of the country with Stein as chief pinot ambassador. He planted his first pinot noir vines in the 1980s, which are now some of the Mosel’s oldest. 

This Rosecco cuvée is mostly pinot noir and a splash of his other red grapes, with its sparkle lent from a secondary fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The bubble is soft, the fruit bright and juicy, made as a spiritual nod to prosecco. Classic, experimental, timeless. —Allison Whittinghill

Benoît Cantin "La Grande Côte" Irancy, Burgundy, France 2019

Yes, I snuck in a Burgundy. But it’s Burgundy that feels a bit wilder, more impish than the supple, elegant bottlings from Chassaigne-Montrachet or Gevrey-Chambertin. Benoît Cantin is based in the tiny, northern region of Irancy, which shares soils similar to Chablis, those storied Kimmeridgian and limestone terroirs, studded with ancient oyster shells and chalky marl. Where Chablis conveys minerality, tautness, and austerity, Cantin’s wines, hand-harvested and aged in oak from his family’s own forest, register as rustic, vegetal, and nourishing. I drank this one, this past weekend, alongside hanger steak, pommes rissolées, and a butternut squash galette. Our dinner party noted the difference between it and the crystalline “Sisters” cuvée of Eyrie, one of Oregon’s OG Willamette Valley pinot producers, deeply inspired by Burgundy; where the Eyrie was all lift and cranberry clarity, the Benoît was dark fruit and mischievous spice, with an undercurrent of disruption. —LP