A wine grape clone is a genetically uniform group of individuals derived originally from a single individual by asexual propagation (cuttings, grafting, etc.). All grape varieties are propagated by asexual means to preserve the unique characteristics of the variety. But slight genetic variations commonly occur among the many billions of cells that make up a grapevine. If a new vine is propagated from a cane that grew out of such variant tissue, it may exhibit somewhat different characteristics than the original vine. If the difference is desirable, for example, the new vine ripens its fruit a week earlier, the vine could be further propagated to perpetuate the new characteristics. Thus, a new clone is born and it is assigned a number or given a name to distinguish it from other clones.

In practice this means that there is more than one Pinot Noir. To be considered a distinct clone there must be a unique difference from other clones, although sometimes the difference is slight. Clones may have differences in time of budbreak, time of ripening, cluster architecture (loose versus tight), fruit yield, fruit quality, or other characteristics.