Skip to main content

Everything You Need to Know About White Pinot Noir

Even if you don’t know much about wine you probably associate noir with dark. If your French is letting you down, film can pick up the slack. The noir genre has entertained for years, with brooding characters drenched in style and by-the-cover-of-night plot twists. Think Chinatown or true black-and-white offerings like The Big Sleep.

Noir is dark — check — but not always in the wine world. When it comes to pinot noir, the red grape hailing from Burgundy, the wine is predominately, well, burgundy. But as the famous grape variety has stretched into new and exciting regions, the approach has changed, too. Enter the white pinot noir, a true role reversal if there ever was one.

Recommended Videos

Pinot noir’s midnight-blue skins impart tons of color, as well as tannin and other structural elements. The juice of the grape is quite light. In fact, when there is minimal skin context, per white pinot noir, the color is actually more like a chardonnay (white burgundy). Think light amber or honey-yellow.

white wine glass tip
Rafael Barquero / Unsplash

Making a wine from a red grape in this fashion is a lot like making a rosé, yeah? Correct. But bona fide makers of white pinot noir would argue that they’re going extra lengths to establish something with more mouthfeel, length, and character than your typical rosé. Again, think of a textured Chardonnay, full of flavor now but also worthy of some cellaring.

Complexity comes from a variety of directions and decision making. The juice used is often free-run (pressed naturally by the weight of the grapes in the tank) and white pinot noir tends to ferment very slowly and at cool temperatures, leading to a lot more substance on the palate. It can be done in steel (clean, crisp, pure) or oak (creamy, more opulent, richer). And whereas rosé can be made with lesser fruit and still be the crushable summer backyard staple that it is, white pinot relies on better juice to truly excel.

A better way to think of the stuff is a still or non-sparkling version of blanc de noirs (“white of blacks”). The famous sparkling wine depends on the bright and fresh pinot noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. The grapes are harvested early for their acid and cellared into wine in snail-paced fashion. A white pinot noir is made with the same mindset. They don’t typically spend years in the making like their sparkling cousins, but the end goal is the same — an un-rushed wine with all the depth you could expect from your favorite slow food recipe.

White pinot noir isn’t the easiest to find, making the hunt almost as fun as tasting experience. Unsurprisingly, it’s found where pinot noir is prevalent — namely Oregon, parts of California, New York, and select Old World locales.

Want to dig into the style? Here are a few to try:

Amity Vineyards

Amity Vineyards
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Oregon option comes in a beautiful salmon color and stays tight but evenly wound thanks to an all-stainless-steel approach and a pinch of residual sugar. It shows honeydew, lemon meringue, and baked apple flavors.

J.K. Carriere Glass

J.K. Carriere Glass
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Jim Prosser of JK Carriere ought to know a thing or two about making a white pinot. He’s been doing it for many vintages, along with a beautiful traditional blanc de noirs. As the seasoned winemaker says, it’s Champagne with no bubbles. Enjoy.

Left Coast Cellars

Left Coast Cellars
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Proud members of the Willamette Valley’s newest AVA, the Van Duzer Corridor, Left Coast is a sustainably minded outfit out of Rickreall. Their riff on white pinot noir is delicate and dense with flavor, like a good pinot should be.

Weingut Martin Tesch Spatburgunder Blanc de Noir

Weingut Martin Tesch Spatburgunder Blanc de Noir
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This German version is as enjoyable to sip as it is to scream about from a mountaintop, in true alpine fashion. Spatburgunder is the German translation of pinot and this wine offers one of the best bargains in a relatively rare category. 

Boeger Winery

Boeger Winery
Image used with permission by copyright holder

California’s Boeger has been in the white pinot game for a while now. Barrel-finished and aged on the lees, this one is full-bodied, while retaining nice acidity and a certain finesse.

Anthony Nappa

Anthony Nappa
Image used with permission by copyright holder

New York producer Anthony Nappa’s version has all of the berry and stone fruit you’d expect from a traditional pinot, plus a certain subtle richness and friendly zap of acid. Try it with some fresh halibut and be transported straight to the heavens. 

Mark Stock
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
Coffee with the least acidity: What to know about finding the gentlest brew
Have a sensitive stomach? How to find a low-acid coffee
Cup of coffee on a table

The acidity of your cup of coffee likely isn't something you think about daily, yet it plays a vital role in how your coffee tastes. Coffee's acidity contributes to the "bright side of coffee," which helps balance the bitterness and contributes to the overall taste.

Differences in acidity are one factor that compares a sip of a cup of light roast coffee vs. dark roast coffee. If you're searching for a low-acid coffee, this guide is for you. Here's what you need to know about choosing the coffee with the least acidity -- from bean origin to type of roast.
Understanding coffee acidity

Read more
Bubbly? Full bodied and red? Zesty and white? Your favorite wine types, explained
All the primary types of wine (and everything you need to know about them)
Glasses of different kinds of wine

Trying to understand everything about wine all at once is impossible -- and that's the beauty of it. Like music or the person you love, there are always new things to discover. Not only that, but your taste in wine will expand and evolve as you mature. If you don't know that much about it right now, so what? Even the most prestigious wine experts in the world often find themselves at odds with the basics of different types of wine. And anyway, can you think of a ridiculously fun learning opportunity?
So, let's start with the basics. We'll learn that -- just as in life -- there are rules, then exceptions to those rules, then ultimately that there are no rules except be a good person and serve your higher purpose. (OK, maybe this is going a little beyond wine.) Let us open that gate to this particular garden of earthly delight and pop a cork while we're doing it.

Sparkling wine

Read more
Does decaf coffee keep you awake? What you need to know before bed
How decaf coffee affects your alertness
roasted coffee beans

Do you drink coffee because of its flavor or for the energy boost? If you love to sip on a delicious cup of fresh coffee for the taste alone, decaf coffee is the best option for drinking all day, anytime (it's quickly becoming an integral part of my daily routine). Decaf coffee is also one of the greatest inventions for coffee drinkers who are highly sensitive to the effects of caffeine. Coffee drinkers experience a win-win" with decaf coffee, packed with all the flavor but free of caffeine. But is decaf coffee truly decaffeinated? Does decaf coffee keep you awake? I'll help you explore the caffeine content in decaf coffee and how it can impact your sleep.
Does decaf coffee keep you awake?

According to James from Decadent Decaf Coffee Company, decaffeinated coffee will not keep you awake. Although decaffeinated coffee is not 100% caffeine-free, the caffeine that remains is minimal and unlikely to affect your ability to sleep. For example, decaffeinated coffee using the Swiss Water decaf process removes 99.9% of the caffeine from coffee beans. This method removes the most possible caffeine out of any of the decaf coffee methods. However, according to Swiss Water Decaf, several variables can affect how much caffeine remains in a cup of coffee after undergoing the Swiss Water decaf process. Regardless, the average cup of decaf coffee still only contains about 2 milligrams of caffeine.

Read more