The stops
- Tour · Price: moderate Alsace Pinot Noir: The Volcanic Exception Grand Cru Rangen de Thann is Alsace's most extreme vineyard: the southernmost, steepest (45° slopes), and only volcanic Grand Cru. The soil is graywacke, tuff, and volcanic ash from 350 million years ago. While Pinot Noir can't yet claim Grand Cru status here, the wines taste of smoke, gunpowder, and volcanic minerals unlike any other French Pinot.
- Adventure · Price: low Côtes d'Auvergne: Volcanic Pinot From the Forgotten Center In the shadow of dormant volcanoes (the Chaîne des Puys), a handful of passionate winemakers cultivate Pinot Noir on volcanic soils in central France. The Côtes d'Auvergne AOC is one of France's smallest and least known - but the volcanic influence creates Pinot with mineral intensity that rivals Alsace's Rangen.
- Winery · Price: high Domaine Marcel Deiss: The Alsace Rebel Jean-Michel Deiss broke Alsace's varietal rules by planting multiple grape varieties together (complantation) and naming wines by terroir, not grape. His Pinot Noir grows alongside Riesling and Gewurztraminer in the same plots. The resulting wines defy categorization - and changed Alsace law.
- Tasting · Price: low Menetou-Salon: Sancerre's Secret Sibling Just west of Sancerre, Menetou-Salon offers the same limestone terroir and grape varieties but with even less fame - and lower prices. About 160 hectares of Pinot Noir produce pale, elegant reds that sommeliers prize as the Loire's best-value Pinot secret.
- Tasting · Price: moderate Sancerre Rouge: The Forgotten Red Kingdom Before phylloxera devastated Europe, Sancerre was 90% red wine - almost entirely Pinot Noir. Today, Sauvignon Blanc dominates, but ~420 hectares of Pinot remain. These light, floral reds are wildly underpriced compared to Burgundy - a complex Sancerre Rouge costs the same as average, unmemorable village Burgundy.