It’s fickle and delicate. It’s ancient and ethereal. Pinot Noir is one of the most fascinating grape varieties on the planet. Originally from France’s esteemed Burgundy region, Pinot Noir is the grape behind some of the world’s most expensive and prestigious wines, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely inaccessible. There are great, wallet-friendly expressions of Pinot Noir to be found around the world.
But it’s tough out there hunting for a good value Pinot Noir. That’s why we tasted hundreds of examples and curated a list to share some of the best this grape has to offer. This year we were taken by earthy, red-fruited expressions from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and elegant, ocean-kissed bottlings from sites along California’s stunning coasts. There’s even a standout wine from New Zealand and an impressive bottle from Virginia.
From budget buys to wines that are absolutely worth a splurge, here are the 32 best Pinot Noirs for 2025.
Table Of Contents
Why You Should Trust VinePair
Every year, VinePair conducts dozens of tastings for our “Buy This Booze” product roundups, highlighting the best bottles across the world’s most popular wine and spirits categories.
Within this scope, VinePair’s tasting and editorial staff samples thousands of bottles every year. This ensures we have a close eye on what’s new and exciting. Crucially, it also provides us with the context needed to distinguish the simply good from the truly great, whether from a quality or value-for-money perspective — or both.
Ultimately, our mission is to offer a clear, reliable source of information for drinkers, providing an overview applicable to day-to-day buying and drinking. Learn more about VinePair’s tastings and reviews department here.
How We Taste
We believe in tasting all products as our readers typically would: with full knowledge of the producer and — importantly — price. Our tastings are therefore not conducted blind.
VinePair’s tasting panel evaluates every wine on its aromas, flavors, structure, balance, and quality. We also consider whether or not the wine showed typicity for its specific grape or region.
How We Compiled This List
In order to provide our readers with the most comprehensive and thoroughly tested list of the best Pinot Noirs to buy, VinePair invited producers, distributors, and PR firms working on their behalf to send samples for consideration. These bottles were submitted free of charge — producers didn’t pay to submit nor did VinePair pay for the products. All were requested with the clear understanding that submission does not guarantee inclusion in the final list.
For the Pinot Noir roundup, we assigned a score to each product on a 100-point scale based upon the quality and intensity of its aromas, flavors, texture, and finish. Then we reviewed all scores and compiled an editorially driven list that meets our criteria of best Pinot Noirs to buy right now. Each wine was assessed on quality, price, and availability to compile the final list.
The Best Value Pinot Noir
Montinore Estate Red Cap Pinot Noir 2022
Montinore has cracked the code, tapped into the matrix, or is probably just very good at what it does (obvs the latter) but this might be one of the country’s most affordable, approachable, and available bottles of Pinot Noir. And it’s biodynamic. And delicious.
This wine is made with fruit sourced from two of Montinore’s biodynamically farmed vineyards in the hills of the Willamette Valley: the Montinore Estate Vineyard — a 200 acre vineyard in the Tualatin Hills AVA that was planted in 1982 — and the Tidalstar Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. The wine has a deep nose of cherries and herbs. The palate is round and fleshy with a juicy core and great acidity. Though this is a widely available wine, it maintains an impressive depth and quality.
Average Price: $24
Rating: 92
The Best Splurge Pinot Noir
White Rose Estate ‘The Neo-Classical Objective’ Pinot Noir 2022
After a decade successfully building a company in the aerospace industry, Greg Sanders looked for his next challenge, and bought White Rose Vineyard — a 10-acre plot in the Willamette Valley — in 2000. Sanders tapped Greg Urmini, who had spent 14 years learning from industry legend Paul Hobbs, as the project’s winemaker. And to this day, what White Rose is doing here is nothing short of mind-blowing.
The Neo-Classical Objective bottling is White Rose’s ode to the history of Pinot Noir, sourced from vineyard sites with higher elevations and older vines. The wine is made with 100 percent whole-cluster fermentation and is aged in French oak barrels (22 percent new) for 15 months. The result is outstanding and only gets better as it breathes in the glass. You are welcomed with a deep nose of earthy cherries, a hint of soil, and flecks of pepper. The palate is as elegant as it gets with bright acidity balancing medium-bodied fruit with an added whisper of herbs. Elegant, precise, and delicious wine.
Average Price: $110
Rating: 97
The Best of the Rest:
Best Pinot Noirs Under $30
Haden Fig Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2023
Single vineyard bottlings are awesome. There’s nothing like sipping the wonders that come from a single plot of vines. But there’s also magic to be found in wines that blend multiple vineyard sites. This wine from Haden Fig is made with grapes from four sites located across the Willamette Valley. The different terroirs come together in an expressive, well-structured wine. It opens with bright cherries, rhubarb, pepper, and a hint of soil on the nose. The palate has a wonderful depth with a slight grip and amazing acidity that fills the wine but doesn’t overwhelm. The finish is lingering and delicious.
Average Price: $26
Rating: 94
Division-Villages Méthode Carbonique Pinot Noir 2024
Division Winemaking Co., an urban winery in Portland, Ore., has a direct connection to the Burgundy and Beaujolais regions. Owners Kate Morris and Tom Monroe have both done stints making wine in France. Division’s “Villages” series is a tribute to the easy-drinking, entry-level bottles of these French regions but the wines are still unapologetically Oregonian. This Pinot is all cherries, fall leaves, and rhubarb with a crunchy texture. It’s easy and delicious, like a good village-level Burgundy or Beaujolais is supposed to be.
Average Price: $26
Rating: 92
BloodRoot Sonoma County Pinot Noir 2023
You’d be hard pressed to find a wine of this quality at this price. This Sonoma County Pinot punches above its weight with enticing notes of tart cherries and cooking herbs like rosemary and thyme. The palate is absolutely incredible with focused fruit filling the palate, matched by perfect acidity. The harmony of fruit, acidity, and aromas for this price is just epic.
Average Price: $28
Rating: 93
Best Pinot Noirs Under $50
Tiraki Pinot Noir 2023
Marlborough is primarily known for its tart and tropical Sauvignon Blanc, but this beloved New Zealand region also grows some great Pinot Noir. This bottle from Tiraki pops with bright cherry and raspberry notes. There are also subtle hints of cocoa and spices from 12 months aging in French oak. The palate has a juicy fruit core framed by drying tannins and present acidity.
Average Price: $35
Rating: 93
Pali Wine Co. ‘Huntington’ Pinot Noir 2022
The Huntington bottling from Pali Wine Co. is made with Pinot Noir sourced entirely from the winery’s estate vineyard in Santa Barbara’s Sta. Rita Hills AVA. This area benefits from higher elevations and cooling ocean breezes. The wine offers a unique nose of roasted cherries and soil with a hint of balsamic and pepper. The mouthfeel has deep fruit with excellent supportive acidity and the texture is spot on. The roasted cherry note lingers on the finish. This wine, with its screw cap and reasonable price, is a sleeper hit for sure.
Average Price: $35
Rating: 93
Saracina Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2022
This Pinot Noir comes from Northern California’s cool-climate haven for Pinot Noir: Anderson Valley. Located about 15 miles from the Pacific coast, this region enjoys the daily temperature shifts that keep the grapes cool and happy. This wine was definitely made with happy grapes and skilled hands. The nose is filled with earth, cherries, and rhubarb. The mouthfeel offers a seamless balance, with juicy fruit, blousy acidity, and a slight grip around the edges.
Average Price: $40
Rating: 95
Donnachadh Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2023
Donnachadh is a family-owned vineyard and winery that has been making wine in the Sta. Rita Hills since 2013. This wine comes from the steep, north-facing hillside blocks of the vineyard, which is just nine miles from the ocean. With the Pacific influence, rocky soils, and sun exposure, this is a mineral-driven beauty of a Pinot Noir. The nose has a nice savory vibe with hints of cherry, balsamic, and fresh bark. There’s a lot of acidity here, but it’s kept in check by the core of fruit.
Average Price: $40
Rating: 92
Outward Wines Bassi Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023
The biodynamically farmed Bassi Vineyard is a coveted site on the San Luis Obispo Coast. Even though it’s a warm region, this plot is just about a mile from the ocean, enjoying all that briny, cool Pacific breeze and a ton of sun. Outward had an opportunity to make its first Pinot Noir from this site in the 2023 vintage and it did not mess around. This Pinot special. It has an earthy nose of black cherries and raspberries sprinkled with fresh soil. The palate delivers a savory, umami vibe with hints of tea and fresh herbs. The concentrated fruit notes are expertly balanced by bright acidity and a firm tannic structure.
Average Price: $46
Rating: 94
Kokomo Winery Gopher Hill Pinot Noir 2023
Gopher Hill is a specific block in the larger Peters Vineyard, located just 10 miles from the ocean in the Sonoma Coast AVA. Though this is a coastal expression, there’s still some soulfulness to the wine. It has a deep, savory nose with brandied cherries, balsamic, and cinnamon. The palate is rich and focused with good medium-bodied fruit and soft fleshy mouthfeel.
Average Price: $48
Rating: 94
Best Pinot Noir Under $100
Brewer-Clifton Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2023
This wine is the epitome of Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir. It’s expressive and balanced in its own unique way. The nose is brimming with wafts of brandied cherries, pomegranate, and strawberry rhubarb pie. The mouthfeel is wildly engaging with a deep core of fruit that coats the palate.
Average Price: $50
Rating: 96
Long Meadow Ranch Pinot Noir 2019
The wines of Long Meadow Ranch have a theme, whether it’s the winery’s delicious Cabernet Sauvignon or its epically enjoyable Merlot (so good!), there’s a wonderful earthiness to the wines. This Pinot from Anderson Valley exhibits the winery’s signature depth and earthiness while maintaining elegance. It has an umami nose with hints of mushroom and herbs over a base of juicy cherries. The acidity seamlessly weaves throughout the fruit.
Average Price: $50
Rating: 96
Arabilis Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir 2022
When you read about how this wine is made — hand-picked grapes, lightly foot-crushed, soft pump overs — it sounds like a delicate wine. And while this Willamette Valley Pinot is light on its feet, it also brings the intensity. It has an earthy nose with aromas of cherries, fresh soil, and tree bark. The palate is wonderful with nice fleshy medium fruit and saline acidity.
Average Price: $50
Rating: 95
Copain Wines Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2022
This bottle from Northern California’s Anderson Valley needs a minute to open up, but when it does it shines with classic crunchy and fresh Pinot character. The nose shows quiet notes of cherry and some oak. The palate, though, is where the wine expresses itself, with concentrated red berry fruit balanced by bright acidity and a slight tannic edge. A great wine to chill or to chill with.
Average Price: $55
Rating: 91
LDT Wine Co. La Colina Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022
The La Colina vineyard, originally planted in 1999 in Willamette Valley’s Dundee Hills, is known for producing Pinot Noir with wonderful depth. This absolutely comes through in this bottle from LDT Wine Co. It’s brimming with notes of cooking herbs, turmeric, and fresh earth layered over red fruit. The palate is soft, focused, and elegant with very bright acidity lifting the flavors of juicy cherries and cinnamon.
Average Price: $58
Rating: 94
Ankida Ridge Vineyards Pinot Noir 2022
Virginia continues to not just impress but truly wow us. Almost 2,000 feet above sea level, tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains, is Ankida Ridge. Here, the Vrooman family works with the unlikely Pinot Noir variety. What may have seemed like a risk has become an enormous reward. This wine isn’t just delicious, it’s spectacular. It offers a floral nose that suffuses into hints of cherries, pepper, and soil. The palate is downright gorgeous with elegant fruit and well-integrated acidity.
Average Price: $60
Rating: 98
Soter Vineyards Estates Pinot Noir 2023
Soter crafts its “Estates” bottling as a recognition of the diversity and quality of top vineyard sites located across the northern Willamette Valley, with fruit sourced from three of the winery’s holdings: the Mineral Springs Vineyard, Ribbon Ridge Estate, and Tarren Vineyard. It feels like this wine represents the best of these sites. It has a subtle nose with tart cranberries, cherries, and an earthy note. The palate is delicate with active acidity and a silky texture.
Average Price: $60
Rating: 95
Smith Story Wine Cellars Filigreen Farm Pinot Noir 2022
We loved the 2019 Smith Story Helluva Vineyard Pinot Noir, so we were eager to try another delicious single-vineyard wine from the Smith Story team, this one from the Filigreen Farm in Anderson Valley. Turns out this is the winery’s first Pinot Noir from here. What a great move! This wine is delicious. It has a mineral-driven nose with some cherries and vanilla. The palate is calm and fleshy with a slight edgy grip.
Average Price: $64
Rating: 93
Rombauer Vineyards Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2022
The Santa Lucia Highlands overlook the Salinas Valley in California’s Central Coast. Here, just off Monterey Bay, Rombauer harvests fruit for its Pinot Noir. All the sun from the valley and the wind from the ocean are in this wine. It has deep cherry notes on the nose with a hint of oak. The palate is soft and chewy with good fleshy fruit and supportive acidity.
Average Price: $65
Rating: 91
Marine Layer ‘Marine Layer Vineyard’ Pinot Noir 2022
Marine Layer means just that. Wines that focus on vineyards in the cooler climates of Sonoma, covered by the morning fog. This wine is from the winery’s six-acre vineyard on the Sonoma Coast and is the perfect representation of coastal Pinot Noir. It opens with aromas of earth, mushrooms, and rhubarb, though bright cherry notes take center stage. The palate delivers juicy and tart red fruit flavors like pomegranate and cranberry, with hints of black tea and herbs. That marine influence comes through in the acidity, making for a lifted, elegant wine.
Average Price: $70
Rating: 96
Big Table Farm Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir 2022
We can’t seem to get enough of Brian Marcy’s wine and his partner Clare Carver’s beautifully illustrated labels. The latest wine in Big Table Farm’s lineup to win us over? The Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir. It has a savory, umami nose with beautiful floral tones mingling with roasted cherries and soil-covered mushrooms. It has a soft palate with a seamless balance between fruit, tannin, and acidity.
Average Price: $72
Rating: 96
St. Innocent Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021
St. Innocent’s Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir is one of the great American Pinots. We absolutely loved the 2018 vintage, which we featured as one of The 50 Best Wines of 2023, and the 2021 bottling reminded us of why we gravitate toward this wine. The Willamette Valley’s Shea Vineyard consistently delivers complex, expressive wines. This vintage pops with cherries, strawberries, and rhubarb on the nose, complemented by hints of cinnamon and leather. The palate is refreshing, grippy, and deep with vibrant acidity that holds everything in place.
Average Price: $72
Rating: 94
SOM (State Of Mind) Eola Springs Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023
SOM (State Of Mind) is a collaborative project from a group of winemakers, sommeliers, and vignerons. It takes a unique approach to winemaking, giving each member of the team a say in the production of each wine. This meticulous process allows them to get the best expression possible. This wine from the Willamette Valley’s Eola-Amity Hills AVA is a study in refinement, focus, and elegance. It has an earthy and grounded nose with hints of red fruit and cinnamon. The mouthfeel offers silky tannins and a touch of spice from aging in 100 percent new French oak. It has fleshy fruit wrapped up in a refreshing acidity that makes you want to come back for the next sip.
Average Price: $75
Rating: 96
Cuvaison Spire Pinot Noir 2023
The grapes for Cuvaison’s Spire bottling are sourced from the upper slopes of Tai Vineyard in Napa’s Los Carneros region, showing the elegance of wines made from higher elevations. It’s focused on the nose with aromas of cherries, vanilla, and spice from 14 months aging in French oak barrels. The seamless harmony between fruit depth and acidity on the palate make this an undeniably Carneros wine.
Average Price: $80
Rating: 95
Reeve Wines Rice-Spivak Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023
Sonoma-based Reeve crafts terroir-driven wines from a series of high-quality sites across Northern California. This particular bottling comes from the unique Rice-Spivak vineyard, a six-acre site just south of the town of Sebastopol, in an area with heavy wind influence and a mixture of sandy loam and volcanic ash soils. The resulting wine is transcending. It’s full of fresh character on the nose with notes of cherries, saline, and cinnamon. The mouthfeel is rich with fleshy fruit and incredible acidity. The weight on the palate is just right with a beautiful medium body. A damn good wine.
Average Price: $85
Rating: 97
Illahe Vineyards 1899 Estate Pinot Noir 2022
In 2011 Oregon’s Illahe Vineyards began the 1899 project, setting out to make a wine without the use of any electricity or modern mechanization (read more about that process here.) The winery even takes a horse and buggy from the Willamette Valley to Portland to deliver this wine to its distributor. The name is a testament to the old style of winemaking, and the result is amazing. It has rich notes of chocolate-covered cherries and blackberry jam, balanced by a lithe tannic frame and active acidity.
Average Price: $85
Rating: 96
Iterum Old Friend Quailhurst Estate Pinot Noir 2021
Veteran winemaker Joe Dobbes has worked with the Quailhurst Vineyard since 2003. This specific site — that sits high in the Northern Chehalem Mountains AVA — was actually the source of fruit behind Dobbes’ first single-vineyard Pinot Noir bottling under the Dobbes Family Estate label. Now, he works with it to make this wine for the Iterum label. It offers a savory nose with plush red fruit, herbs, and sweet spices. The palate is graceful with present, but balanced, oak influence and a seamless integration between acid and fruit.
Average Price: $90
Rating: 95
Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir 2021
The Evenstad Reserve bottling has been Domaine Serene’s flagship wine for over 30 years. The expertly crafted wine exhibits the perfect balance between fruit and oak, with generous notes of vanilla and spice from 16 months in 55 percent new French oak. The mouthfeel is plush, with concentrated notes of wild strawberries and ripe cherries.
Average Price: $95
Rating: 93
Rhys Alpine Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022
Cool, foggy, steep, and rocky: Perched within a 10-mile view of the Pacific Ocean lies the Alpine Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This hillside location helps grapes retain acidity while enjoying the high-elevation sunshine. This is what we call mountain fruit. And the result is a wine with great freshness and character. It offers dark cherry notes on the nose with a hint of earth and a dollop of oak spice. The concentrated berry fruit flavors on the palate are lifted by refreshing acidity and salty minerality.
Average Price: $99
Rating: 94
Best Pinot Noir Over $100
Hirsch Vineyards ‘Raschen Ridge’ Estate Pinot Noir 2022
Hirsch Vineyards is located on the extreme Sonoma Coast, on a rugged plot of land that straddles the San Andreas Fault. This distinct location creates a series of microclimates, leading to a captivating lineup of terroir-driven wines. This Pinot Noir comes from a very special place on the property, a convergence of two plots on the western edge of the Raschen Ridge: one that’s exposed to the harsh Pacific winds and fog, which typically produces intense, concentrated wines, and another that’s isolated and protected, producing more delicate expressions. The sites come together to create a wonderfully complex Pinot Noir. The nose is filled with cherries and balsamic with intoxicating hints of anise, pepper, and orange zest. The balance on the palate is perfect with dense red fruit framed by fresh acidity and grippy tannins. This is one the United States’ great Pinot Noirs.
Average Price: $105
Rating: 98
Emeritus Vineyards Hallberg Ranch Elite 2021
After selling his first winery, the famed Chardonnay brand Sonoma-Cutrer, Brice Cutrer Jones purchased the Hallberg Ranch in 1999 to start his new project, Emeritus Vineyards. He brought the best people he had worked with in the past to this new adventure, setting his sights on making the finest Pinot Noirs in the region. This wine pays tribute to this special site, made with the vineyard’s “Elite Selection” grapes. This is the epitome of a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir with savory notes of forest floor, aged balsamic, and cinnamon balanced by tart cherry flavors and chewy tannins.
Average Price: $120
Rating: 96
FAQs
Where does Pinot Noir come from?
Pinot Noir is originally from the Burgundy region in France, where it has a long history. The Pinot Noir produced in Burgundy is still thought to be some of the most elegant wines in the world, and also some of the most expensive bottles sold.
Which region makes the best Pinot Noir?
There are different styles of Pinot Noir around the world, but the regions most renowned for this variety include Burgundy, California’s Sonoma Coast, Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Germany, and New Zealand.
Why is Pinot Noir so popular?
Pinot Noir is popular for its light- to medium-bodied wines with bright acidity and silky tannins. The wines are also known for their vibrant red fruit characteristics and savory notes like earth and spice that can add complexity. Compared to fuller-bodied red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir has fewer tannins, so it can be a more pleasant and easy-to-drink wine in its youth.
*Image retrieved from TSViPhoto via stock.adobe.com
