The concept of a single vineyard that stands above its peers dates all the way back to Roman times.
The vineyards on Mount Falernus – now known as Monte Massico and situated near Campania’s northern border with Lazio – were even designated into separate growths, or ‘crus’ in today’s terminology.
Such was their reputation that these Falernian wines were mentioned by the poet Horace and in the 1st-century work of Latin fiction Satyricon.
No place has shaped the concept of vineyard expression, however, like Burgundy, where the clos system developed as stone walls were built to protect exceptional vineyards, closing them off from access to animals or passersby (clos as an adjective meaning literally ‘enclosed’).
The first such site, Clos de Vougeot, was established in 1336, in the heart of the vines just outside the village of Vougeot in Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits.
America took a while to come around.
Scroll down for notes and scores of 20 excellent, single-vineyard US Pinot Noirs
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20 excellent, single-vineyard US Pinot Noirs
{}
{"wineId":"94980","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"81585","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94981","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"93764","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"93802","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94982","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94046","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94416","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94983","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94984","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94985","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94986","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"90037","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"92269","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94987","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"74777","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94988","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94989","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94990","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{"wineId":"94991","displayCase":"standard","paywall":true}
{}
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