Perhaps a silly question, but?

If Blanc de Noir Champagne is made from only Pinot Noir grapes, does anyone make a Pinot Noir still white wine?

yes.

https://www.cellartracker.com/list.asp?fInStock=0&Table=List&iUserOverride=0&szSearch=pinot+noir+blanc

perhaps a bit more readably:

https://www.cellartracker.com/list.asp?table=Pivot&Pivot1=Region&MasterVarietal=Pinot+Noir&iUserOverride=0&fInStock=0&Color=White&Type=White&szSearch=pinot+noir&Pivot2=Wine

Well done!

This is the only one I have had personally. It was very good.

Schäfer-Fröhlich Spätburgunder Fröhlich Blanc de Noir trocken

Cavallotto, the Barolo maker, makes an excellent pinot nero bianco under the “Pinner” brand: https://www.skurnik.com/sku/pinot-nero-in-bianco-pinner-cavallotto-2-2-2/

If you really want to get freaky, Henri Gouges in Nuits St. George makes a white from white pinot noir fruit – mutated pinot noir vines that lost their color (not pinot blanc). It has some definite (red) pinot flavors and ages forever.

Isn’t Pinot Blanc nothing more than a Pinot Noir that has lost its pigmentation gene? Just as Pinot Gris that has its pigmentation gene altered, so it produces grapes that can be gray-ish to luminous pink. After all, if you look at their DNA, they are literally the same variety.

Of course most of the Pinot Blancs grown throughout the world are only some few select clones of vines that have been around for ages, so if you make a wine from a recent mutation, it’s bound to be different, at least to some extent.

Yes, I think that’s the origin of pinot blanc, and the Gouges website calls their wine pinot blanc at one point, but it was a specific mutation discovered in their vineyard, not the widely planted pinot blanc, and it’s also known as pinot Gouges.

I believe someone else is making white wine from Gouges cuttings. Chevillon, perhaps?

Righty, that explains it. So basically it is Pinot Blanc, but just their own clone and not a common one.

I’m not sure whether to say it is “pinot blanc” or not, since the well-known version was cultivated as a distinct plant for a long time – maybe centuries – while the Gouges white has only been separated from its pinot noir roots for a much shorter period of time.

I haven’t had a Gouges in a while (I have some '98 resting in my cellar), but they certainly didn’t taste anything like any pinot blanc I’ve ever had. They had a faint but distinct pinot noir scent and what seemed like a bit of tannin, even though I don’t think there’s any significant skin contact. So I think it’s better to call it pinot Gouges.

I think they actually DO call it Pinot Gauges… (That is what we call it on CellarTracker.)

Yes, it is Pinot Gouges and is genetically distinct from Pinot Blanc.

On their website, they use both names, but also refer to it as “a distinctive grape variety.”

Perhaps they have to use a name that’s authorized under the appellation rules (i.e., pinot blanc), even though that’s confusing. No one argues that it’s ordinary pinot blanc.

Anyway, I’ve had a couple from Oregon and one from CA, as well as a one-off still Blanc de Meunier that Bonny Doon made. All quite good. None resembled Pinot Blanc - there was some extra dimension to them. The Bonny Doon tasted like Veuve Clicquot.

Exultet in Prince Edward County make a good one - Mysterium. Fairly small quantities though and I doubt it gets south of the border.

The Champagne Pedant would like to point out that Pinot Meunier is also used in Blanc de Noir Champagne. [wink.gif]

Which raises the question - has anyone ever made a Pinot Meunier still white wine?

There is also a little know grape called Pinot Meunier in blanc de noir. Not sure how much it is grown in Champagne these days.

There is of course a ton of Meunier still grown in Champagne. Moussé Fils specializes in Meunier Champagnes, including several Blanc de Noirs.



Pretty sure I touched on this fact a post and two above these. Read the whole thread first. [wink.gif]

Love,

The Champagne Pedant. [snort.gif]

P.S. Anyone make still Blanc de Meunier?

Thread drift:

Which raises the question

Thank you Jim for not saying it “begs the question”!

Anyhow, there are a few other grapes where white wine is made from sports of the red variety like the various Pinots, Garnacha, Tempranillo, Cariñena, and others, made as whites but from red grapes.

In Mexico I had a “white” Cab made from red grapes, which I tasted for pedagogical purposes. Also a Pinotage from S. Africa, and from Wooing Tree from New Zealand made from Pinot Noir. I know that there are a few people doing it with Sangiovese in Tuscany but I’ve never tasted any.

It would seem that rather than make a crappy red in a bad climate, it might be smart to make a white from the red grapes. For example in places where it’s too cold to reliably ripen reds, maybe they’d be better off trying blanc de noir still wines. Haven’t had enough to form an opinion though.