Two glasses of pinot noir wine in front of a vineyard - Edsel Querini/Getty Images

There’s nothing quite like a pinot noir to sip alongside some roasted duck or savory mushroom risotto. The dry medium body with complex red fruit notes and smooth mouthfeel perfectly complements rich, high-fat meals of all kinds. However, this wine is getting increasingly difficult to buy, not because of a lack of popularity, but because of a very high price tag.

In fact, one very pricy vintage pinot noir wine at Costco boasted the shocking sticker price of $40,000 for a four-pack. While you may think this just has to do with pure wine elitism, it is instead more reflective of changing climates, exacting production, and increased interest in the varietal. In some areas, you may still be able to find affordable pinots in wine shops and on restaurant menus, but you have to be selective if you want a quality product. A pinot noir imported from the Burgundy region in France may be out of your price range. It can be frustrating — some factors in this price hike can be combated, but others are pretty much unavoidable.

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It all has to do with temperamental grapes

A bottle of red wine by a glass of wine, surrounded by grapes - Elena Noviello/Getty Images

Saying that pinot noir grapes are thin-skinned isn’t some sort of wine snob joke. The grapes have a thin outer skin, and they’re smaller and complicated to grow than many other varietals, with high susceptibility to fluctuations in temperature and weather. With quickly shifting annual temperatures, climate change means that the amount of pinot grapes reaching many winemakers’ standards is lower. But why is this so important when it comes to price? The fact of the matter is that it takes a lot of grapes to make wine. If even a small portion of the grapes don’t make it or are deemed not up to snuff, you end up with fewer bottles to ship out.

Because of this, it might seem natural that pinot noirs would not be as popular as other reds, but that’s not the case. You don’t need to keep pinots in wine cellars for ages in order for them to be drinkable, so sipping them while they are young is easy. They also pair well with so many types of food that they tend to be an easy winning pick for dinner parties and weddings. Even if you don’t want to buy a whole bottle, roughly 20% of by-the-glass red wine sales are pinot noir. Simply put, while there are other factors in cost, a growing demand plus smaller quality grape yield equals a bigger price tag.

There are still some decent inexpensive pinot options

Bottles of red wine on a store shelf - Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock

Given that weather and market trends have so much to do with prices, it seems you’re stuck paying top dollar. Luckily, that isn’t necessarily true. Because there is such a demand for this tasty grape varietal, many wineries have stepped up to make it more available in unexpected ways.

To cut down on paying import costs and the price of French name recognition, consider purchasing from California or Oregon. Willamette Valley, Oregon is 69% pinot noir by growth, and Sonoma, California is over 20% by growth. Although some of the most expensive bottles of pinot in the world come from this region, local wineries produce experimental versions, as well as pinot blends, with price tags well under $50. Some of these blends and versions aren’t quite on the dry side of wines, but they still have the distinct fruit and floral notes with spicy undertones, and score very well in competitions.

In Oregon and California, you’ll also be able to find pinots that have been selectively bred and uniquely fermented for lower alcohol content for light drinkers, more sustainability, better yield, and lower chances of red wine headaches. Producers such as Jackson Family Wines, Knudson Vineyards, Donkey & Goat Winery, and Deerfield Ranch Winery, among others, are leading the way in these research topics, and still maintain an affordable price tag compared with many Burgundy-region imports. So, although pinot noir is still one of the most expensive varietals, you don’t have to go without.

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