Devotus Pinot Noir

 Martinborough is a small and very special place for making Pinot Noir. This is where Ata Rangi is located, as well as Dry River, Kusuda, and a few others. For me, the silky tannins and ethereal character of the wines are the hallmark of this region. Now, a new specialist has emerged, Devotus. The 2.5 ha site is only planted to Pinot Noir. The winemaker, ex Dr River I believe, is devoted to Pinot Noir. This is obviously very small production. I was given a bottle of this special wine.

The 2021 Devotus Pinot Noir is quite concentrated. The purity of fruit, an indication of the meticulous work in the vineyard as well as the winery, is impressive. Black cherry flavours dominate. This is nothing like the much more savoury expression of Dry River. This is quite a big wine, still smooth and elegant on the palate. The tannins are quite soft. Overall, the wine is perhaps a little bit too focussed on fruit, but this is a very promising start. A winery to watch.

Score: 94/++ 

 

Ultra Premium New Zealand Pinot Noir Tasting

 Hot on the heals of the previous (slightly disappointing, from a New Zealand perspective) tasting comes another New Zealand Pinot Noir tasting, where some wines blew me away.

The star of the show, named after the winemaker and its inaugural release, was the 2020 Ata Rangi Masters Pinot Noir. It comes from a cool site 4km away from the home block. This is a very Burgundian wine with strawberry, pomegranate, and red cherry flavours. Earthy notes add to the complexity. The tannins are peppery and silky. This wine is superbly elegant with the seldom experienced expanding peacock fan on the finish. This wine will gain from some cellaring. It would give many grand cru a run for their (much more expensive) money (97/+++ points).

Another very impressive wine was the 2019 Burn Cottage 'Burn Cottage Vineyard' Pinot Noir from Central Otago. It delivers beautiful focused red and black cherry flavours, which seem to dance on the tongue. This is a smooth and elegant wine with a soft, perfumed, and slightly spicy finish (95/+++ points).

I also enjoyed a wine from 2015, of which I do not know anything. This was the 2015 Te Whare Ra SV5182 Pinot Noir from Marlborough. This red cherry flavoured wine is still fresh. It is an elegant wine of medium concentration (94/++ points).

A more intense wine with a big mouthfeel is the 2017 Prophet's Rock Cuvée aux Antipodes Pinot Noir. This is a complex wine with dark cherry and mocca flavours. While impressive, it felt a little overworked and slightly out of balance. And twice the price of the Ata Rangi? I don't think so (93/++ points). 

On 92 points were the final three wines: the 2013 Pegasus Bay Prima Donna Pinot Noir (a bit fruity, but sophisticated elegance); the 2020 Pyramid Valley Korimako Pinot Noir (very aromatic, quite light, mouthfeel a bit too round); 2021 Craggy Range Aroha Pinot Noir (quite fruity, elegant, but mouthfeel a bit flat).

These wines showed the complexity and elegance I was missing from the New Zealand wines in the last tasting. Having said this, there is no change from a $100 note for these wines. In some cases quite a bit more.

Australia vs. New Zealand Pinot Noir Tasting

 A couple of days ago, I tasted six premium Australian and six premium New Zealand Pinot Noirs. Who came out ahead? Perhaps surprising, I scored the Australian Pinot Noirs slightly higher. Why? There were clearly country differences. The Australian wines were quite savoury and often with good energy. The New Zealand wines were fruitier and often a little round with not enough to show on the finish.

My top wine, unexpected, was the 2019 Picardy Tête de Cuvée from Pemberton. This is Picardy's best Pinot Noir of the vintage. Some of the fruit is densely planted, and the yields are low. The wine opens quite light on the palate, as the red and dark cherry fruit emerges. This is quite a complex and earthy wine with cigar box flavours underneath. The tannins are fine, supported by 30% whole bunch, and the finish is long (96/+++ points). Just behind was the 2020 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir, quite an intense, dark fruited wine. The mouthfeel is plush and smooth, and very textural. The wine has good persistence and a long finish (96/+++ points). 

In the next level came the highly acclaimed 2022 Ossa Pinot Noir from the Belrose vineyard near Swansea. The fruit is quite young and vibrant, and the wine has good intensity, but feels slightly blocky in the mouth. The 2022 Giant Steps Wombat Creek tasted of red cherry, with medium intensity and fine tannins - overall a more balanced wine. Also impressive was the 2018 Moondarra Sambaside Pinot Noir, a new label to me. This wine was on the lighter side with savoury notes, not dissimilar to the Picardy (93/94 points for these wines).

The next group included three wines from New Zealand, the 2022 Two Paddocks Estate Pinot Noir, the 2021 Valli Gibbston Vineyard Pinot Noir, and the 2022 High Garden Vineyard Pinot Noir. As mentioned, these wines have a strong fruit profile, but were not as well structured as the wines above (92 points).

The final group included the 2021 Stonier Reserve Pinot Noir, the 2021 Shaw & Smith Lenswood Pinot Noir, the 2020 Neudorf Home Block, and the 2016 Fromm Cuvee H Pinot Noir - all 90 points.

Kusuda Pinot Noir

 I have followed this tiny producer for many years and written up a number of his Pinot Noirs. He is still on top of his game.

The 2016 Kusuda Pinot Noir has flavours of strawberry, red cherry and a bit of mushroom. The main feature of this light to medium-bodied wine is how delicate the wine is while still persistent on the palate. It has phenolic ripeness and some lifted aromatics. I wish there would have been slightly higher acidity to drive the wine a bit more, but this is a minor quabble.

Score: 96/+++

Ata Rangi Pinot Noir

Not much of a label, the Ata Rangi, yet it is iconic by now. I have written about Ata Rangi a fair bit, so let us go straight to the wine. The 2013 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir has all the key elements of a perfect Pinot Noir. Forest berries, Asian spices and forest floor flavours provide a predominant savoury impression without losing the firm dark cherry fruit core. This is quite a rich and powerful, yet elegant wine. The structure is perfect. The silky tannins caress the mouth before an expanding finish delivers a long and delicious finish. This is one of the best Pinot Noirs from the Southern Hemisphere I have ever tasted.

What would make it perfect? A bit more precision, a bit more drive, even more of a peacock's tail. But this is splitting hairs. I love this wine. It drinks perfectly now and will continue to do so for the next three years.

Score: 97/+++   

 

A fabulous Shiraz/Syrah tasting

Shiraz is the most adaptable red wine grape to different climatic and soil conditions.This was very obvious in this tasting of seven Shiraz. There were wines with big fruit weight and less fruit weight, very peppery wines, powerful and elegant wines, and wines with dark fruit and chocolate, tannic wines, and acidic wines - and they were all excellent.

The first wine was the rare 2014 Kusuda Syrah from Martinborough. This meticulous Japanese winemaker produces a wine of intriguing complexity. This is a lighter style with red plum and forest berry flavours. There is green peppercorn spice, good natural acidity, and long stalky tannins. The wine has strong savoury characteristics (94 points).

The second wine could not have been more different. The 2004 Henschke Mt. Edelstone is a big wine, with black fruits, aniseed and strong oak influence. The fruit is concentrated and generous. Everything is balanced, though. This is a really enjoyable typical high quality Barossa/Eden Valley example (95 points).

Then we came to four wines from the Northern Rhone. The first was a mature 2001 Chapoutier Côte-Rôtie. Dark concentrated fruit was dominated by earthy and secondary flavours. Therefore, some layered fruit flavours, which would have been there 5-10 years ago, have disappeared. French oak was strong, and the tannins high. Most noticeable was the high level of acidity, which was too much for me. This wine split the tasters (93 points).

Wine of the night was the 2012 Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Rouge. Concentrated and powerful, with blackberry and boysenberry fruit, this wine had the hallmarks of premium Shiraz: it is peppery, with some sweetness and silky tannins. At the same time, it was the most elegant wine of the night (96 points).

The 2009 Delas Côte-Rôtie La Landonne gave a really aged impression (not in a bad way). Raspberry fruit, aniseed,  concentrated gamy flavours gave way to earthy and rustic notes on the mid-palate, before it finished with mellow tannins. The balance of the wine was still good (95 points). 

A real surprise was the 2016 Pierre Gaillard St Joseph Rouge. This is a highly perfumed wine with fresh floral notes. Dark fruits and earthy components dominate the elegant palate. Salty and savoury flavours add to complexity. This wine shows a great balance between fruit weight, acidity and firm tannins (95 points). 

The final wine of this blind tasting was an Australian classic: the 2010 Penfolds St. Henri. This wine is quite big for the brand, reflecting the excellent vintage; deep purple, concentrated, dark. This inky wine of Barossa character has licorice and meat, but is peppery as well. The large barrel used oak plays a support role. Despite its concentration, this wine invites you to a second glass (95 points). 

Kusuda Pinot Noir

Kusuda is one of my favorite producers, not just of New Zealand, anywhere. Imagine you are in the fruit department of a major Tokyo department store, and you look at the individually packaged apples. Each apple looks the same; same size, same colour, same ripeness. This is how the grapes enter the fermentation at Kusuda. Everything is done by hand, very small volume, high reject rates.

The overall impression of the 2014 Kusuda Pinot Noir is absolute harmony. This wine is dark fruited, intense and pure flavours of black cherry and black olive. The wine is beautifully crafted and elegant on the palate. The oak is seamlessly integrated. Balanced acidity provides drive to the long finish which almost delivers a Burgundian peacock tail.

Score: 96/+++  

Kusuda Pinot Noir

I have been fortunate to taste a number of vintages from this high quality, very small volume cult producer of Martinborough, New Zealand. I found the young Pinot Noirs quite mesmerizing and exciting.

This time is the first time I tasted an older Pinot Noir, and the results are not quite as exciting. The fragrant aromas and lifted flavours on the palate are gone from this 2012 Kusuda Pinot Noir. This is still a very good wine, but it has lost some of its ethereal mystique. The fruit flavours have moved from strawberry/red cherry to red and black cherries. The wine is still smooth and the tannins silky, but eventually the wine flattens out on the finish. It seems like this wine has been hauled back to the pack of good New Zealand Pinot Noirs.

Score: 94/++ 

New Zealands Current Best?

I recently tasted a number of New Zealand's best wines at the 'Family of Twelve' tastings. This a a marketing organization of some of New Zealand's small and medium sized wineries.

The top wine for me was the 2016 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir. This wine is quite steely, and a bit edgy. It has an ethereal texture with very fine and silky tannins and an expanding finish. Ata Rangi seems to be able to produce this character year after year. Is it due to the clone they stole from Romanée-Conti? Maybe it is. The 2013 Ata Rangi McCrone Pinot Noir is made from the Dijon clone and does not come near it. But also, the vines for this wine are a lot younger.

The surprise second best wine for me was the 2015 Neudorf Moutere Pinot Noir. I enjoyed its deep fruit set, and again an elegant, silky structure.

In third place came the 2017 Felton Road Cornish Point Pinot Noir. The dark cherry flavours were quite smooth, and the tannins silky, a bit bigger than the previous wines. In contrast, the 2017 Felton Road Bannockburn Pinot Noir, a blend from three vineyards, was not as differentiated, with a slightly flat patch on the mid palate.

So there you are: three different vintages from three different regions, but a trifecta for Pinot Noir.

New Zealand Pinot Noirs With Personality

Over the last 10 years, the quality of Australian and New Zealand Pinot Noirs has gone up in leaps and bounds. One even does not encounter lolly water in value for money Pinot Noirs any more, and the good ones can take on Burgundy premier cru. Unfortunately, there seems to be an almost formulaic approach by most producers, and it is not often that individual wines stand out.

At a recent tasting, however, I found that three Pinot Noirs from New Zealand had great 'personality'. As I tasted these wines very quickly, no scores were given, but they would have been in the 90-95 points range.

The first was the 2013 Charteris The Winter Vineyard Pinot Noir. The vineyard is on Felton Road in Central Otago, opposite Mt. Difficulty. This Pinot Noir does not taste anything like a Central Otago Pinot Noir. This wine is much leaner than your typical example.While there is good fruit intensity, there is also bay leaf, and the tannins are dry, but soft. This is partly due to the location near the water, partly due to long maceration.

The 2015 Schubert Marion's Vineyard Pinot Noir comes from Wairarapa (the larger Martinborough region). This location was searched out by a German winemaking couple after a world-wide search. The fruit here is bigger. Earthy notes and fragrance remind me of Nebbiolo.

The cult Pyramid Valley winery is owned by an American and is currently being sold (to another American, I believe). It is located in the Canterbury district and quite unique in many ways. The 2014 Pyramid Valley Angel Flower Pinot Noir has an almost orange colour. The wine is soft and smooth, and almost Burgundian in its character (and price).  

Kusuda Pinot Noir

I decided to see out the old year with one of my favorite producers in the Southern Hemisphere, Kusuda-san. I am drinking the 2010 Kusuda Pinot Noir.

I reported briefly on the 2013 Pinot Noir a few posts ago. This wine is much more developed, but this makes this wine even more exciting. The colour is a medium intensity ruby, bordering on garnet. The aroma consists predominantly of forest berries. On the palate, the wine is quite complex. Small berry flavours of medium intensity join mushroom and five spice. Yet, this wine is quite precise and has great definition down the palate. Silky tannins are pleasant on the back palate. The overall impression is of a savoury wine in great harmony.

I have enjoyed Kusuda Pinot Noir at young age, but this, my first experience of this wine with age, is even more exciting.

Score: 97/+++

Kusuda Pinot Noir

This is perhaps the most exciting wine to come out of the Southern Hemisphere in the last ten years. Have you ever shopped for fruit in Tokyo? Even something as simple as an apple is wrapped individually, looks immaculate, and they all look the same. This is what happens with Kusuda grapes. It is a small operation, every grape seems individually assessed and approved or not.

The wine comes from Martinborough, my favorite Pinot Noir region, home of Ata Rangi. The other day I drank the 2013 Kusuda Pinot Noir. I will leave this description very brief, because everything else would be fluff. The bouquet is extremely fragrant, on the palate, the red cherry flavours are intense. Yet the wine is light, and lifted. That's it.

Score: 97/+++

PS: I have other vintages of this wine and will report on some of them shortly.

Swimming Against The Mainstream

When a tasting of Cullen, Bindi, and Ata Rangi wines is announced, you can't be anything but excited. I certainly was, given I have wines of  these producers in my cellar. But it is interesting to note what happens when three things come together
- High expectations set you up for a fall
- The setting of the tasting, including glasses is poor
- Some of the wines are not outstanding

I was aware of the influence of the first two factors and tried to be objective (from my point of view), as much as I could. This is what I thought:

The Bindi wines tasted are new labels and  in part from new blocks of the home vineyard.
- The 2015 Kostas Rind Chardonnay (formerly Composition Chardonnay) was very floral and a bit broad (88 points)
- The 2015 Dixon Pinot Noir ( formerly Composition Pinot Noir), which includes fruit ftom a new block K), tasted of kirsch and was very young and fruity (89 points)
These wines are too expensive for what they offer

In some quarters, the 2014 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir has been described as even better than the sensational 2013. I tasted
- The 2014 Crimson Pinot Noir. This is not a bad wine for a second label. It is savoury, with mushroom and licorice flavours on the palate. The wine is a little light (91 points)
- The 2014 Pinot Noir. The bouquet smells of roses, quite intense and unusual. On the palate, the mouthfeel is balanced, but not huge. The wine is savoury with good length and dry tannins leading to an expanding finish. This wine will increase complexity over time (94 points)

With Cullen, I have a mixed relationship. I simply do not 'get' the Kevin John Chardonnay, and while I appreciate the increased delicacy of the Cabernet, I wonder if some depth has come out of the wine.
- The 2014 Kevin John Chardonnay shows peach flavours and good lashings of (high quality) oak. I find the wine a bit broad (92 points)
- I was impressed with the 2014 Diana Madeline Cabernet. It has good depth of blackberry and blueberry fruit. The flavours penetrate without being heavy. It is a very harmonious wine with firm dry tannins on the finish (95 points)   

11 Years Of Ata Rangi Pinot Noir

Ata Rangi means "red sky dawn", and that it was for New Zealand Pinot Noir, when Ata Rangi, together with Felton Road, burst on the wine scene. I therefore felt great anticipation when I learnt I could participate in a rare 11 year vertical tasting. I had once participated in a blind Pinot Noir tasting where a small group of wine lovers were trying to figure out which Pinots were from New Zealand and which from Australia. We were then embarrassed to learn, we had just tasted 6 vintages of Ata Rangi. The vintage influences were very large. This was about eight years ago. What would happen this time?

Clones have more influence on Pinot Noir than on any other variety, and the Ata Rangi situation is an interesting one. Like many others in New Zealand, they use 6-8 clones, in particular clone 5 from the US and the Dijon clone, but at the heart of its Pinot Noir is the gumboot or Abel clone. It is a long story how it got to Ata Rangi, but it is rumoured to be an offspring of an illegal single vine cutting from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. According to Clive Paton, Ata Rangi's founder, it delivers the typical Ata Rangi texture, length and silky tannins. The other significant aspect is that the soil of Ata Rangi's vineyards consists of 30-50 meters of gravel.

Now on to the tasting. It covered the years 1999 and 2004-2013. We tasted from youngest to oldest in two five year brackets, followed by the 1999. I will not describe every single wine, but start with some overall conclusions, followed by a summary.

The significant vintage variations I had experienced in my previous vertical tasting were not so apparent in the five youngest wines, but there was more of it in the second bracket. Given seasonal variations were just as large, why would this have been? According to Clive Paton, it is not in the winemaking. Maybe, as the vines reach maturity - they are now 35 years old -, they can balance out the variations. It is not entirely clear.

Overall, Ata Rangi Pinot Noirs are iron fists in a velvet glove. These are wines with concentration, with fruit and (not so noticeable) tannin power. They all deliver elegance and silkiness.

The most impressive wines were the bookends, 2013 and 1999. The 2013, from a perfect vintage, has complex flavours, strawberry, raspberry, but also savoury sandalwood. The wine is vibrant, with a very rounded and balanced mouthfeel and a long burgundian finish (97 points). The 1999, which won a trophy at the prestigeous UK International Wine and Spirit competition, shows what such a wine can develop into: the flavours are now very exotic: there is truffle, hay, some toffee. The wine is still very balanced, simply sensational (98 points). This was a wine under cork. We had a perfect bottle, but others opened to trade and in Melbourne were not good.

The second group scored 93-95 points and consisted of the 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005. There were considerable differences between these wines, mainly depending on the warmth of the season and sunshine hours. In the cooler years, the wines are more austere, and acidic, but showing great elegance. This was certainly true for the 2012 and the 2010, which was more generous, though.This latter wine was my third favorite of the night. 2008 and 2009 were warmer seasons. The wines showed generous fruit aromas and were softer. Secondary characteristics, such as mushroom, started to show in these wines. 2005 was a very masculine wine with a weighty palate. The year had a very low yield. 2006 was more elegant, a gracious and precise wine with silky tannins to finish.

The weaker wines (around 91 points) were 2011, 2007 and 2004. The 2011 season had rain at the wrong time, which diluted the intensity a bit. 2007, from a cold season with low yield, was a powerful wine on the front palate, but finished quite short. 2004 was the wettest season. The wine had developed quite a bit, showing a charming mix of fruit and forest floor flavours - a pretty wine, but lacking some intensity.

Overall, a mighty impressive showing. It is good to see that no vintages were left out. The seasonal impact was significant, with warmer seasons showing better, but others creating interesting characteristics as well.

Kusuda Pinot Noir

After a number of mixed experiences lately, I wanted an exciting wine drinking experience. I went for the 2010 Kusuda Pinot Noir. This wine from Martinborough, New Zealand's leading Pinot Noir region (yes!), is rare as hens' teeth. I met the Japanese winemaker a couple of years ago, and his meticulous approach is similar to what you would experience at a Tokyo fruit market. Every grape is treated individually, both in the vineyard and the winery. No split or unripe grape would ever make it to making wine.

After opening the wine, by pulling out an extra long cork (reassuring!), fragrant and enticing aromas escape the bottle. On the palate, attractive strawberry and red cherry flavours dominate, and darker mushroom flavours join in. This wine is quite feminine, elegant, and delicious, but it has intensity and cut-through as well. It finishes on silky tannins. This is a terrific Pinot Noir.

Score: 97/+++  

Australian versus New Zealand Pinot Noir (a mini comparison)

It is very interesting to compare Australian and New Zealand Pinot Noir. In my opinion, there are interesting parallels, for example between Central Otago and Mornington Peninsula on the one hand, and Martinborough and the Yarra Valley on the other.

This was a brief tasting of six high quality wines.

The 2010 Picardy Pinot Noir from Pemberton, W.A. is expected to be a little different. I thought this was an excellent wine. The colour has a tinge of orange, and the flavours are savoury. What makes this wine exceptional is the elegance on the palate. Picardy's best? (94 points)

The 2012 Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot Noir shows more fruit by comparison. It is quite acidic and tannic and linear on the palate. This wine will live for many years (93 points).

The 2012 Yabby Lake Block 2 Pinot Noir is the little brother of the Jimmy Watson winner. I have not tasted these wines before. I found this wine to be quite earthy and lacking some elegance when compared with the first two. It is a well structured wine (92 points).

The 2011 Akarua Pinot Noir from Central Otago was the weakest in this line-up. The wine is a little fruity and lacked structure and length (90 points).

The 2011 Mount Edwards Pinot Noir from Central Otago was a more appealing wine. It has softer strawberry flavours and fine tannins. It reminded me of Mt. Difficulty. (93 points)

The star of this line-up, the 2011 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir, did not disappoint, although it is not their strongest wine ever. It is of medium weight, with good length and soft tannins. The oak integration is excelllent. This wine will live for many years (94 points).

So how about Australia versus New Zealand? The tasting showed, not surprisingly, the very high standard Pinot Noir has achieved in both countries. I call it a draw.

Ata Rangi Pinot Noir

I love Ata Rangi. I love the paradox in this wine between fruit intensity and savoury flavours. The 2006 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir is full of intense black cherry and  the savoury mushroom characteristics, no doubt coming from the stems which were included in the fermentation process. The wines vary significantly between the years, but this balance is always there. In 2006, the wine is more powerful than fragrant, as in some other years. The tannins are silky, based on low yielding,  now mature vines. This wine finishes pretty, but not as precise as in some other years.

Score: 94/++

Craggy Range New Premium Releases

Craggy Range is New Zealand's preeminent winery across a wide range of wines. Tasting the new releases demonstrates the high quality across the board, although lacking absolute high points.

The 2011 Te Muna Pinot Noir from Martinborough tastes of cherry and strawberry. The fruit is a bit simple and straight forward and the wine quite light-bodied. It has an ethereal texture and quite silky tannins (91 points).  

The 2010 Calvert Pinot Noir from Central Otago is bigger in fruit weight and more complex. The dark cherry flavours are augmented with forest floor, but the finish is not as smooth as I would have liked (92 points).

We are now moving to Hawkes Bay, the home of Craggy Range, and where the grapes for the fuller bodied reds are grown. The 2010 Gimblett Gravels Syrah is very spicy and the fruit is a bit lean with slightly metallic flavours. The finish is quite satisfying (90 points).

The 2011 Le Sol Syrah is the flagship wine. It is more generous and elegant, not as intense as in some other years, with a smooth finish (92 points).

The star of the tasting was the 2011 Sophia. This Bordeaux style blend is dominated by Merlot and therefore fashioned similar to right bank Bordeaux. This wine has great depth of blackberry fruit, a sweet core, and firm tannins to provide a solid structure which will allow the wine to develop more complexity with time. An excellent effort (94 points).

Pinot Noir NZ, part 3a, The Pioneers

This day featured the three regions of Nelson, Waipara (North Canterbury), and Martinborough.

Plantings at Nelson started early i.e. in the late seventies, but did not develop into large holdings. I only tasted two Neudorf Pinot Noirs from there. The Moutere Pinot Noir was quite fresh and acidic, lacking some mouthfeel (88 points). The Home Vineyard Pinot Noir showed much darker colour and a savoury complexity on the palate. I enjoyed this wine (92 points).

The region battling it out with Central Otago for best area to grow Pinot Noir is Martinborough. It is a small area, one hour north of Wellington. You can visit most wineries on foot. Martinborough has quite a marginal climate, resulting in a lot of vintage variation. The Pinot Noirs tend to be lighter in colour, often with a strawberry flavour and a long finish.

The star in general, and of this show as well, is Ata Rangi. The 2010 Pinot Noir is amazing: a lot of depth and elegance, an ethereal mouthfeel, great length and enough acidity to guarantee a long life (96 points). The second wine, the Crimson Pinot Noir is nothing to sneeze at, either. It is a much simpler wine, but has beautiful fruit from newer plantings, and an excellent structure (92 points).

The big eye-turner was Kusuda. If you have ever visited the fruit section of a shop in Tokyo, you would have seen how carefully each individual fruit is treated and displayed, and purchased. This is how Hiroyuki Kusuda treats each individual grape. He released his first wine in 2002 and has kept his production minuscule. It seems he may now enter the big time. The wine tastes of dark cherry, is extremely elegant and very long. Too pretty (95 points)? I also tried the 2008, which has a similar profile, but not as much depth (93 points).

Martinborough Vineyard is one of the pioneers of the area and has kept its quality high since the beginning. In the past, I have tried beautifully aged wines from this producer. The 2010 shows great fruit intensity, is elegant and finished with very polished tannins (94 points).

The best known cult winery from this area, maybe because it is the most expensive wine, is Dry River. The wines tend to be much more savoury and European than the other wines. The 2010 shows great colour, with black and red fruit flavours - an elegant and velvety wine. The structure has not quite come together yet, but probably will (94 points). I also tried the 2000 and 2003, which showed more of the earthy characteristics referred to above (92 points).

Not in the same league as the wines above were Craggy Range Te Muna Road, Brodie, Escarpment (a major disappointment), Gladstone, Johner and Schubert. Some of these wines were a bit fruity, some a little thin in the mouth.  

Review of Waipara will follow in the next post

Pinot Noir NZ 2013 (part 1)

I have been quiet over the last little while, as I attended the big NZ Pinot Noir show in Wellington. This event is held every three years, attracts 500+ participants from New Zealand and around the world, and lasts for four days. I thought the event was very well organised and overall very interesting and informative. Literally all significant Pinot Noir producers are present, and I got a very good idea of where the industry is at. I thought it was worth while going, because New Zealand Pinot Noir is an exciting part of the global wine world, and developing fast.

This year's theme was regionality. The first three days was spent exploring one region each day. For me, this meant:
 - day 1: Central Otago
 - day 2: Martinborough, Nelson, Waipara/ North Canterbury
 - day 3: Marlborough

In a nutshell, there are significant differences between these regions. Firstly, acid levels. These are highest in Marlborough and Nelson, followed by Martinborough. They are quite low in Central Otago. The fruit in the higher acid regions is fresh and vibrant, tasting of red cherries usually, but can be a bit thin. Central Otago Pinot Noir tastes of black cherries and can be quite big and ripe - a Shiraz drinker's Pinot.

All wineries showed the 2010 vintage and then some older vintages. The wines from 2010 were across the board of a very high standard. Surprisingly (to me), the older vintages showed very well, too. Many were from around 2006/07, where this could be expected. But I also tasted a number of wines from 2001 and 2002 which were also still going strong.

I will report on the different regions and its individual wines in subsequent posts. Many favorites showed strongly, but there are also new stars on the horizon.