A prima donna thanks to a pernickety insistence on marginal climates, pinot noir is not for nothing known as the heartbreak grape. While cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay were strutting their stuff in the New World, pinot noir’s dainty feet remained resolutely planted in the narrow 30-mile strip running from Dijon through Beaune to the Côte Chalonnaise. Call it the Sideways effect if you will, but today the siren lure of its sweet perfume and voluptuous flesh has become irresistible, conquering growers and converting consumers alike in increasingly unlikely locations around the globe.

Palataia is so-called because this German, yes German, pinot noir hails from the Palatinate but it could just as easily stand for palatable. That’s what the 2011 Palataia Pinot Noir, Pfalz, £8.99, Marks & Spencer, is: a perfumed red with a mouthwateringly juicy cherryish fruit quality. Barely known for its pinots, Italy has the odd bright spot thanks to the high altitude Alto Adige, where the 2009 Franz Haas Pinot Nero, £23.00, Highbury Vintners (020 7226 1347), displays smoky sun-dried tomato notes and a delicately spiced palate with rose petal, and raspberry fruit in Alto Adige-meets-Volnay mould.

A slow starter, Chile’s improving pinot noirs are mostly based on cool spots. The perfume and bright berry fruit of Viña Leyda’s 2010 Secano Estate Maiten Vineyard Block 1 Pinot Noir, £12.99, Marks & Spencer, owes its refreshing aftertaste to its proximity to the Pacific. As indeed does Maycas’s smoky, cherry-strawberryish 2010 Limarí Valley Reserva Especial Pinot Noir, £11.95, The Wine Society (www.thewinesociety.com).

Argentina’s best pinot noir is rooted in Patagonia, where the 2010 Bodega Chacra Pinot Noir, £18.95, Lea & Sandeman (020 7244 0522), expresses Río Negro’s scent, texture and bright mulberry-cherryish purity. New Zealand’s serious pinot noir class is ubiquitous with South Island’s Canterbury one of the impressive new Kiwi kids on the pinot noir block judging by the fine, bright, cherry-spicy 2009 Waipara Black Estate Pinot Noir, £26.75, Lea & Sandeman.

Oregon has become of America’s pinot noir strongholds, as the Burgundy négociant Robert Drouhin discovered when he created an estate in the Willamette Valley. Not surprisingly, the 2009 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, £27, Oddbins, is Burgundian in style with a fine, delicate raspberryish perfume and plenty of opulent mulberry fruit underpinned by oak spice and a glossy smoothness.

Successfully aping Burgundy in the cool of the Pyrenean hills, Gérard Bertrand’s 2010 Domaine de l'Aigle Pinot Noir , £9.99, Majestic, is refreshingly fragrant with a juicy raspberryish aftertaste. Back where it all started, Burgundy is taking on the upstarts of the New World in reds such as the scented and succulent 2009 Antonin Rodet Givry Rouge, £13.99, Majestic, a modern example of the style combining berry fruit, oak spice and savoury freshness in a seamless whole.

Something for The Weekend

Something for the Weekend 21 April 2010

Couch Potato

2010 Tesco Finest* Gavi

Refreshingly aromatic with zingy appley flavours, good weight and the lively Alpine bite of the cortese grape, this is one of those classic Italian dry whites that goes beautifully with shellfish, notably dressed crab. Tesco, £5.98, reduced from £7.98, until 30 April.

Dining In

2011 Secano Paico Vineyard Block 3 Sauvignon Blanc

Fragrant sauvignon from Viña Leyda with undertones of elderflower and gooseberry, there’s an intense fruit quality that’s opulently gooseberryish in Sancerre mould with a sea-beezy, salty freshness that brings a zesty-citrusy dry tang. Marks & Spencer, £11.99.

Splash Out

2007 Sideral, Altaïr

Seductively spicy Bordeaux-style Chilean red with blackcurrant-sweet and chocolatey opulence, a fresh mint undertone and pristine fruit purity framed by grippy tannins and a refreshing spine of acidity. Around £16.99, D. Byrne (01200423152), WoodWinters (01786 834894), Wines of Interest (01473 215752).