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.

Barossa Buys 2012

I normally report on mature wines which come from my cellar and sometimes on tastings I participate in, but I am thinking to maybe venture out and give a heads up on wines I bought from the fabulous 2012 vintage in the Barossa. These are wines which offer good value for money and have a beautiful fruit expression in this year. These wines are on the fresh, not on the overripe side. They are

Head, The Brunette
John Duval, Plexus and Entity
Spinifex, Bete Noir
Caillard, Mataro.

Any thoughts?

Barossa Shiraz

A new and quite detailed review of my book has been published by visitvineyards, a highly popular website with over 50,000 subscribers. The link is

http://www.visitvineyards.com/south-australia/barossa-valley/wine/books-guides-wine/wine-food-travel-book-reviews/book-review-barossa-shiraz-by-thomas-girgensohn

Spinifex Indigene

The hallmark of Spinifex wines is their vitality, as the grapes come from higher lying vineyards in the Barossa and as they are picked early. As I open a bottle of the 2005 Spinifex Indigene, I therefore expect graceful aging.

This Indigene is a 55% Mataro, 45% Shiraz blend. The colour is dark and somewhat mellowed. This is a big wine. It is still fruit dominant, with blackberry and plum flavours dominating. It has a big mouthfeel and it runs seemlessly to the back palate before finishing long. The tannins are quite noticeable on the finish.

In a blind tasting, I would not have picked this as a Spinifex wine. Its profile is more that of a typical Barossa, with considerable weight. It shows Peter Schell's considerable talent in fashioning well balanced blends.

Score: 94/++

d'Arenberg The Coppermine Road

d'Arenberg is known for quirky names for some of their wines, but why would you name a wine Coppermine? As I drank the 2009 d'Arenberg Coppermine Road Cabernet Sauvignon, I found the association to be closer than probably intended.

The wine kicks off with typical varietal redcurrant characters, but becomes a little metallic on the back palate. The fruit of the wine is of good quality, but ultimately, the wine lacks elegance, and the finish is a little harsh.

Score: 89/-

Mount Mary Quintet

Apologies for another delay. I have come down with a heavy flu and could not taste any wines.

Today's review is likely to be controversial, but one of the benefits of blogging is the independence and the lack of peer pressure one has to take into account in reviewing wines. So here is a not so great experience with an Australian icon wine.

I had great expectations when pouring the 2010 Mount Mary Quintet. A highly regarded wine from a great vintage, what can go wrong? The wine opens with attractive complex forest berry aromas. Little did I know that this was the highlight of the experience. The wine turned out to be quite lean on the palate, not green, but it simply lacked mouthfeel. I also felt there was some brett in the wine, which dulled the flavours, but I doubt it made a huge difference in this case. On the positive side, the wine had a fairly long finish and a fine overall structure. But it was simply not enough to overcome the lack of mouthfeel. There are certainly much better buys of top level Cabernets from Margaret River, be they full- or medium-bodied. I should probably try another bottle of this wine, but I am not inclined to spend this amount of money on it.

There is a line of thought that Yarra Valley Cabernet can be as good, relatively speaking, as the best Pinot Noir from the area. I have never experienced this. I bought the Quintet from the year 2000, which is supposed to have excelled in that difficult year. I am looking forward with some trepidation to open the first of my three bottles. I should do it sooner than later.

Score: 91/-

Biodynamics

In simple terms, biodynamics in the vineyard refers to soil treatment and reflecting certain cosmic influences in viticultural practices. I certainly noticed increased freshness and vibrancy in wines where more organic practices were applied, such as Cullen or Clonakilla, but I have been a sceptic in relation to the impact of moon cycles etc. The argument of the impact of the moon on tides does not really wash with me (pun intended), as this happens every day. And are the hight differences between days really that significant.

But then I came across something amazing in the highlands of Peru a couple of weeks ago. I walked along some fields, and a farmer told me about the planting of some crop, which would be planted at a certain time during the moon calendar. If he would plant at the wrong time, the plant would grow 50% higher, but put all energy into growth and leaves. There would be a lot less seeds. WOW! Makes you think, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I did not ask which plant it was, or in which cycle this would occur. It came so unexpected.

Any thoughts or comments?

Achaval-Ferrer

I am sorry for the long break. I am travelling in South- and Central America and just did not feel like blogging. I spent time in Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina, and must say that the top wines, most of them Malbec, are very impressive.

The most exciting company is Achaval-Ferrer. The company is only 13 years old, but the vines in their vineyards average about 100 years. Achaval-Ferrer was formed by three friends, but sold to Russian interests four years ago. So far their involvement has been minimal, but it looks like this could change now.

Achaval-Ferrer picks its grapes quite early and fashions three very distinctive single vineyard Malbecs.

The 2011 Achaval-Ferrer Finca Mirador Malbec comes from a vineyard at 700m altitude (this is low over there), and the soil is predominantly clay. This Malbec is full- bodied, with meaty and smoky overtones. The climate of this vineyard is hot, and the flavours are quite ripe, with firm tannins. This is a wine that would appeal to drinkers of California Cabernets and South Australian Shiraz (94 points).

The 2011 Achaval-Ferrer Finca Bella Vista Malbec is grown on limestone soil at 1000m altitude. This is a very different wine: sensuous, soft and velvety. What a contrast! This is simply a delicious world-class wine (95 points).

The 2011 Achaval-Ferrer Finca Altamira Malbec is the most exciting to me. It comes from the Altamira region of the Uco Valley. The vines grow at 1300 metres. The grapes defend themselves against the UV intensity with thick skins, thereby increasing the pulp-to-juice ratio. This gives the wine extra intensity. However, as the grapes are picked relatively early, this does not come at the expense of freshness and vitality. I tasted figs and chocolate apart from the cherry dominated fruit flavours. This is a complex wine, which will further improve with ageing (95 points).

Check out these wines or the Quimera, which is an excellent blend.

NZ by the glass

This year, this show has been shrunk considerably. Only about 30 wineries showed their wines, and many premium wines were not available for tasting. As a result, the mood was a bit subdued. This did not improve through the tasting.

I tasted a number of Pinot Noirs, apart from a Man O' War Chardonnay, which I quite enjoyed. But what is happening with the Pinots? Same, same! Where is the personality?

The two interesting Pinot Noirs were the 2011 Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir and the 2010 Villa Maria Southern Clays Pinot Noir. The Martinborough is like an iron fist in a velvet glove. The colour is quite light, but the wine is building on the palate, with attractive mushroom flavours. There is a brooding character there and the finish has great length (93 points). The Villa Maria shows what Marlborough can do with Pinot Noir. This wine has red and black berry flavours. It is quite intense and delivers a great mouthfeel. It is more fruit than savoury, but a serious wine (94 points).

The other wines I tasted, from north to south:
-2011 Escarpment Pinot Noir and Kupe Pinot Noir: savoury, a bit lean, 89/88 points
-2012 Martinborough Vineyard, Te Tera Pinot Noir: fruit forward, not intense, but elegant, 88 points
-2011 Ara Resolute Pinot Noir: pretty, but lacks structure, 87 points
-2011 Saint Clair Block 14 Doctor's Creek Pinot Noir: fruit forward, harmonious, 89 points
-2012 Saint Clair Block 16 Awatere Pinot Noir: darker, fuller bodied, black cherry, short finish, 91 points
-2012 Saint Clair Omaka Reserve Pinot Noir: good complexity, but a bit fruit forward, 91 points
-2010 Villa Maria Taylors Pass Pinot Noir: quite austere, yet intense with soft tannins, 92 points
-2009 Domain Road Paradise Pinot Noir (Central Otago): dark fruit, not a big style, finish shap, 89 points
-2012 Mt. Difficulty Pinot Noir: lighter style, a bit metallic with a boring finish, 88 points
-2009 Nevis Bluff Pinot Noir: red fruit, bright and pretty, 90 points
-2008 Nevis Bluff Reserve Pinot Noir: more intense, but not very balanced, 90 points

Sons of Eden Puma

Sons of Eden is run by two young talented winemakers who have gathered experience at leading edge wineries.

The 2010 Sons of Eden Puma is a Cabernet based blend, including Shiraz and Tempranillo. So, what happened here? Sure, this is not an expensive wine, but does it need to taste of syrup, with no varietal character whatsoever? There is some complexity in the fruit, but the dominant factor is its sweetness. The structure is weak and the finish is not lasting. The wine is plummy and overripe.

You guys can do better than this!

Score: 84/--

Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay

In the same way in which a new painting graces the label each year, there is quite a bit of vintage variation in the bottle. However, I have never been disappointed. The quality of the wine is a constant.

The 2007 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay is more powerful than previous vintages, yet the wine is not broad on the palate. Peach, ripe pear and mango flavours dominate. The high quality new oak is beautifully integrated and provides some creamy nuances to build complexity. The finish is long and persistent.

I have often written about 'paradox' as a key attribute to great wines. In this case, it is the intensity of the fruit on the one hand, yet the precision and linearity of the wine as it goes down the palate on the other. Exciting!

This wine is nicely balanced. It drinks beautifully now, and has at least five good years ahead. The colour is still a fresh yellow, and there is enough acidity in this 'tropical' wine to carry it into the future.

Score: 96/+++  

Katnook Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2004 Katnook Estate Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is a full-bodied wine with big mouthfilling blackcurrant and blackberry fruit. The power of the terra rossa terroir is very obvious here. However, the wine is very syrupy, and  not differentiated.

For years, I have had problems with Katnook wines. Ten years ago, I found the oak treatment over the top, and this wine is just one big fruit bomb, with a plump finish. Katnook sits on prime wine-growing soil, but it does not seem to get its wines right.

Score: 87/--