Grape Guide
Pinot Blanc
WhitePinot Blanc is the white colour mutation of the Pinot family, grown across Alsace, Germany, northern Italy, Austria and central Europe. It makes dry, medium-bodied wines with apple and pear fruit, moderate acidity and a soft, rounded texture, and it also serves as a base for sparkling wine and, in Austria's Burgenland, for sweet botrytised bottlings.
Key Characteristics
- White colour mutation within the Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris family
- Early budding and early ripening, with small berries
- Crops more dependably than either Pinot Gris or Pinot Noir
- Prefers deep, warm soils and tolerates cold winters well
- Fairly vulnerable to fungal disease, especially in damp seasons
Typical Flavors
Major Regions
Baden and Pfalz (Germany) · Alsace (France) · Alto Adige (Italy) · Friuli (Italy) · Burgenland and Lower Austria · Okanagan Valley (British Columbia) · Santa Barbara County (California)
Also Known As
Weissburgunder · Weisser Burgunder (Germany · Austria) · Pinot Bianco (Italy) · Clevner or Klävner (Alsace) · Auvernat Blanc (Orléanais) · Beli Pinot (Slovenia) · Pinot Bijeli (Croatia) · Fehér Burgundi (Hungary) · Rulandské Bílé (Czech Republic · Slovakia)
Overview
Pinot Blanc is a white-berried member of the Pinot family, closely related to Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris and thought to have arisen from them by spontaneous colour mutation. Its wines are usually dry, medium in body and moderate in acidity, with restrained aromas of green apple, pear, white blossom and almond. It lacks the aromatic push of Riesling or Gewürztraminer, which explains why it has a reputation as a dependable food wine rather than a headline variety. Quality depends heavily on yield and site. Low-cropped fruit from limestone, loess or well-drained alluvial soils in Alto Adige, Baden, the Pfalz or Austria can give a tight, mineral wine with real capacity to age, while high-yielding vineyards deliver neutral, simple bottlings. The variety accepts lees contact and careful oak well, and in Alsace it is routinely paired with Auxerrois to add softness and body.
Origins & History
Pinot Blanc is regarded as a colour mutation within the Pinot family. Pinot Noir is genetically unstable and sometimes throws up shoots bearing grey or white berries, so white forms may have arisen repeatedly and independently in different vineyards. Whether Pinot Blanc descends directly from Pinot Noir or by way of Pinot Gris is not settled; some authorities treat Pinot Gris as an intermediate step, while others simply group all three as variants of one genotype. The early record is clouded by confusion with Chardonnay. Until the second half of the nineteenth century, Chardonnay was commonly sold and written about as a Pinot Blanc, sometimes under the name Chardonnet, so any reference before 1868 is unreliable. The French ampelographer Victor Pulliat separated the two varieties in that year, and in 1872 the distinction won formal approval at the viticultural exhibition held in Lyon. Later white mutations of Pinot Gris were documented at Chassagne-Montrachet in 1895 and Nuits-Saint-Georges in 1896, showing that the change had happened more than once. The variety travelled with the wider Pinot family through Alsace, Germany, Austria, northern Italy, Hungary (officially registered by the 1930s) and the Danube basin, and afterwards reached California, Oregon and British Columbia. Misidentification has persisted: many older vines in California labelled Pinot Blanc have proved to be Melon.
Viticultural Characteristics
Pinot Blanc buds early and ripens early, and it is fairly vigorous. It crops more regularly than either of its relatives, which makes yield control the central task in quality vineyards. Berries are small and bunches follow the compact Pinot pattern. The vine performs best in deep, warm soils and has good resistance to winter cold, a trait that made it a leading choice in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley as growers there turned away from hybrids, from the end of the 1970s into the first years of the 1980s. It is rather delicate in the face of fungal disease, particularly in humid autumns, and it succumbs readily to noble rot in suitable sites such as the Neusiedlersee area.
Wine Styles & Characteristics
Most Pinot Blanc is made as a dry, unoaked still wine for early drinking: crisp green apple and pear, light floral notes, medium alcohol and moderate acidity, often compared with a leaner style of unoaked Chardonnay. Better examples from Baden, the Pfalz, Alto Adige and Austria are fermented or aged on lees, sometimes in large neutral oak or in barrique, which adds a creamy texture and nutty, almond-like depth and extends ageing potential. In Alsace the wine is frequently a blend with Auxerrois, and it is a core component of Crémant d'Alsace and a traditional base for other sparkling wines, including early California fizz. In Austrian Burgenland it also makes sweet Trockenbeerenauslese, historically blended with Welschriesling for a crisper structure.