By Bianca Coleman
Pinot Noir is famously known as the ‘heartbreak’ grape and I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought this referred to its handling in the cellar. Not so, Carolyn Martin told us the last time we were at Creation Wines’ award-winning Tasting Room for the Power of Love summer pairing menu. (Which is fabulous, by the way, and I recommend you do your best to have it. But if you miss it, rest easy in the knowledge every season brings with it a new and exciting journey through food and wine.)
The heartbreak refers, in fact, to the vineyard where there are so many Ts&Cs it’s a minor miracle the wine gets made at all.
The Hemel-en-Aarde with its cool climate ticks the first box. Pinot Noir won’t grow just anywhere. Additionally, it’s tightly packed bunches like a nice shady canopy during the day, which I can appreciate. I’m vampire-adjacent when it comes to the sun, and a pretty parasol is an essential accessory in summer.
Pinot Noir’s thin skin makes it susceptible to sunburn and insults. Me too, grape. Me too. Call it (us) fickle if you dare.
It’s also very particular about its soil – nothing sandy, please, give it clay, give it the millions-of-years-old shale, the old razzle dazzle. Shower it with love and attention, but make it work for its water. Coax it through its growing and ripening journey and the compensation will be great indeed.
Past the vineyards, past the cellar, Pinot Noir can and will express itself in so many ways, an absolute darling of a wine, still, sparkling, or even as a delicate rosé.
But it’s in its still form that the grape truly bares its soul, revealing purity, texture, and a sense of place that few others can match. It’s this graceful balance between restraint and intensity that makes it one of the world’s greatest wines for the table.
Before anything else, put it in the fridge, especially here during the southern hemisphere summer, where the ‘room temperature red wine’ rule is shattered. Seriously. When the room temperature is in the high 30s, what are you even thinking? Creation recommends you pour Pinot Noir at a manageable 14 degrees.
If you favour reds over whites in general, the fridge is your friend in warmer weather. Life-changing. For years I’ve been a seasonal wine drinker – whites, rosés, bubbles for one half of the year, everything else (i.e. reds) the rest of the time. I’ve been very stuck in the crisp cold wines on a hot day and robust reds when it’s blustering and stormy. Add a fire, or a nice cosy blanket, and I’m in a private cocoon of bliss. But even self-imposed rules can be broken, and a chilled red – especially Pinot Noir – opens up so many fair-weather possibilities.
A lighter wine calls for lighter food. Look, I’m not going to say you can’t have Pinot Noir with your ribeye steak. Those bad old days of rigid what goes with what are thankfully as long over as Chardonnay that looks and tastes like it was tapped directly from the trunk of an oak tree. What I am saying is that you shouldn’t argue with optimal pairings. If you know, you know.
That’s why Pinot Noir, in its most velvety of incarnations, will abundantly reward your palate with classic pairings like duck, salmon, tuna, roast chicken and mushroom risotto (drizzled with truffle oil for even more luxury). The umami is the common denominator, while the wine’s acidity cuts through any fattiness.
The beauty of it all is that you don’t have to put on your fancy pants to drink Pinot Noir; it’s just as happy alongside a poke bowl, warm goat’s cheese tart, a wild mushroom flatbread, or even a handful of ostrich or springbok biltong or droëwors.
No need to wait for a special occasion, open the wine now.