While the term “clone” has extraterrestrial associations for some, it is a fairly straightforward process in the vineyard. If winemakers want to grow a crowd-pleasing variety like Pinot Noir, and they want their new plant to closely resemble its parent, they might clone it by lopping a portion off an existing Pinot Noir vine, and either planting it directly into the soil, or grafting it onto another vine.
Of course, Pinot Noir is both ancient and planted all over the world. The grape has changed with distance and time, and its far-flung clones have mutated in tandem.
There are now approximately 1,000 clones of Pinot Noir, the famously fussy, world-renowned grape. We created this chart to visualize the flavors, style, body, and tannins of seven of the most popular Pinot Noir clones.
