Pinot Meunier

La variedad de uva Pinot Meunier, también conocido como Meunier, Schwarzriesling o Müllerebe, es una variedad de uva de vino tinto, es mucho más conocida por ser una de las principales variedades utilizadas en la producción de Champán (junto con la Pinot Noir, Chardonnay y Chenin Blanc). Hasta hace poco tiempo, los productores de Champagne en general no reconocian a la Pinot Meunier, prefiriendo hacer hincapié en el uso de las otras variedades más nobles, pero en estos tiempos, la Pinot Meunier está ganando reconocimiento gracias al cuerpo y la riqueza  que da al Champán. Por extensión, la Pinot Meunier ocupa aproximadamente un tercio de todas las uvas plantadas en la Champagne. Se trata de una mutación química de la Pinot Noir: Sus capas celulares interiores se componen de un genotipo Pinot que está cerca de Pinot Noir o Pinot Gris; sin embargo en el exterior, en la zona epidérmica, la capa se compone de un mutante, distintivo de esta variedad. La Pinot Meunier fue mencionada por primera vez en el siglo XVI, y recibe su nombre y sinónimos (francés Meunier y alemán Müller – molinero) a partir de harina, debido al efecto de la parte inferior de sus hojas, que parecen como si tuvieran polvo blanco.

Ampelografía

Pinot Meunier se puede identificar ampelográficamente por sus hojas dentadas de tono blanco suave, como si se hubiera desempolvado harina en la parte inferior, y ligeramente en la parte superior de la hoja. El nombre «Meunier» viene de la palabra francesa para el molinero, de hecho muchos de los sinónimos de esta vid vienen de esa asociación, tales como «Dusty Miller» que se utiliza en Inglaterra, «Farineaux» y «Noirin enfariné» utilizado en Francia, así como «Müllerrebe» y «Müller-Traube» que se utiliza en Alemania. Esta característica se deriva de un gran número de pelos blancos finos en las hojas. Sin embargo, algunos clones de Pinot Meunier se han encontrado completamente sin pelo (una mutación de la variedad) llevando este hecho a la conclusión de la existencia de un vínculo entre Meunier y Pinot noir

En una reciente investigación, Paul K. Boss y Mark R. Thomas de la Planta de Industria CSIRO y Centro de Investigación Cooperativa para la Viticultura en Glen Osmond, Australia, encontraron que el Pinot Meunier tiene una mutación (VvGAI1) que bloquea la respuesta del ácido giberélico, una hormona de crecimiento de la planta. Esto lleva provoca esas diferencias de la Pinot Meunier con su «pariente» Pinot Noir, diferencias como el pelo blanco de las hojas y un ligero retraso en el crecimiento. Esta mutación explica por qué las plantas Pinot Meunier tienden a ser un poco más pequeñas que el Pinot noir. La mutación existe sólo en la capa más externa de células del cultivo, la L1 o capa ‘epidérmica‘. A través de cultivos científicos, es posible separar plantas que contienen tanto el genotipo mutante (L1) y no mutantes (L2), produciendo un Pinot Noir normal.

Regiones de cultivo

Pinot Meunier is one of the most widely planted grapes in France but it is rather obscure to most wine drinkers and will rarely be seen on a wine label. The grape has been favored by vine growers in northern France due to its ability to bud and ripen more reliably than Pinot noir. The vine’s tendency to bud later in the growing season and ripen earlier makes it less susceptible to developing coulure which can greatly reduce a prospective crop. For the last couple of centuries, Pinot Meunier has been the most widely planted Champagne grape, accounting for more than 40% of the region’s entire plantings. It is most prevalent in the cooler, north facing vineyards of the Vallee de la Marne and in the Aisne department. It is also widely grown in the Aube region in vineyards where Pinot noir and Chardonnay would not fully ripen.

Compared to Pinot noir, Pinot Meunier produces lighter colored wines with slightly higher acid levels but can maintain similar sugar and alcohol levels. As part of a standard Champagne blend, Pinot Meunier contributes aromatics and fruity flavors to the wine. Champagnes with a substantial proportion of Pinot Meunier tend not to have as much significant aging potential as Champagnes that are composed primarily of Chardonnay or Pinot noir. It is therefore most commonly used for Champagnes that are intended to be consumed young, when the soft, plushy fruit of the Pinot Meunier is at its peak. A notable exception is the Champagne house of Krug which makes liberal use of Pinot Meunier in its long-lived prestige cuvees.^[4]

During the 19th century, Pinot Meunier was widely planted throughout northern France, especially in the Paris basin. It was found across the northern half of country from the Loire Valley to Lorraine. Today, Pinot Meunier is found outside of Champagne in dwindling quantities in the Loire Valley regions of Touraine and Orleans as well as the Cotes de Toul and Moselle regions. In these regions Pinot Meunier is used to make light bodied reds and rosés. These wines most often fall into the vin gris style are characterized by their pale pink color and distinctive smokey notes.^[4]

Other regions

In Germany, Pinot Meunier is used most often to make still red wines under its synonyms Schwarzriesling, Müllerrebe and Müller-Traube. The style of those wines ranges from simple, light, off-dry (halbtrocken) to rich, dry with substantial flavors. More recently, Schwarzriesling is used also to make dry white wines with a fresh, fruity character. Most German plantings of the variety (1,795 hectares (4,440 acres) out of 2,424 hectares (5,990 acres), or 74%, in the year 2006) are found in Württemberg.^[5] Here it is used to make a local speciality known as Schillerwein which is characterized by it light pink color, smokey noted and slightly higher acidity than wines made from Spätburgunder (Pinot noir). Some growers in Württemberg have been promoting a particular clone of Pinot Meunier that has developed in the region known as Samtrot. Pinot Meunier is also found in significant quantities in the German wine regions of Baden, Franconia and Palatinate.^[4] Despite the variety’s connection with Champagne, it only recently become popular to use Schwarzriesling in the production of sparkling wines Sekt, often not blended with its Champagne partners but as pure brut Schwarzriesling «Sekt». Pinot Meunier is also grown in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and in small quantities in Austria.^[3]

In California, American sparkling wine producers wishing to emulate the Champagne method began planting Pinot Meunier in the 1980s. Today most of the state’s plantings are located in the Carneros AVA. Bouchaine Vineyards, Mumm Napa and Domaine Chandon are a few wineries in the all of the Napa Valley to produce a still Pinot Meunier. In Australia, the grape has had a longer history in Australian wine production than Pinot noir. In the Grampians region of Victoria, Pinot Meunier was known at one time as Miller’s Burgundy and used to make still red varietal wine. In the late 20th century plantings were starting to decline until a revival of Champagne-style sparkling wine took hold in the 2000s which sparked renewed interest in Pinot Meunier.^[3] The New Zealand wine industry has recently discovered Pinot Meunier for both still & sparkling wine production. As a varietal red wine, Pinot Meunier tends to produce slightly jammy, fruit wines with moderate acidity and low tannins.^[3]

Possible relationships

Ferdinand Regner has proposed^[6] that Pinot Meunier (Schwarzriesling) is a parent of Pinot noir but this work has not been replicated and would appear to be superseded by the Australian work.^[7]

The Wrotham (pronounced «rootum») Pinot is an English selection of Pinot that is sometimes regarded as a synonym of Pinot Meunier. The Wrotham Pinot does look somewhat similar to Meunier, with white hairs on the upper surface of the leaves. But it is particularly resistant to disease, has a higher natural sugar content and ripens two weeks earlier than Meunier.^[8] No genetic evidence exists however to prove it is anything other than a distinctively named clone of Pinot Meunier.

Synonyms

Pinot Meunier is known under various synonyms across the globe including-Auvernat Meunier, Blanc Meunier, Blanche Feuille, Carpinet, Cerny Mancujk, Créedinet, Dusty Miller, Farineux noir, Fernaise, Frésillon, Fromenté, Frühe blaue Müllerrebe, Goujeau, Gris Meunier, Meunier, Meunier Gris, Miller Grape, Miller’s Burgundy, Molnar Toke, Molnar Toke Kek, Molnarszölö, Morillon Tacone, Morone Farinaccio, Moucnik, Müllerrebe, Muller-Traube, Noirin Enfariné, Noirien de Vuillapans, Pineau Meunier, Pino Meine, Pinot negro, Plant de Brie, Plant Meunier, Plant Munier, Postitschtraube, Rana Modra Mlinaria, Rana Modra Mlinarica, Resseau, Riesling noir, Sarpinet, Trézillon and Wrotham Pinot.