jamie goode's wine blog: Some New Zealand wines from M&S

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Some New Zealand wines from M&S

Four solid Kiwi wines from UK retailer Marks & Spencer tonight. Three are from Pernod Ricard (Montana), and the Pinot is from Wither Hills.


Bluff Hill Brut NV, New Zealand (M&S £8.99)
From Pernod Ricard. Rich, toasty and quite complex with a lovely savoury character, backed up by good acidity. Richly flavoured and quite serious: a good food wine. 89/100

Kaituna Hills Chardonnay Reserve 2007 Marlborough, New Zealand (M&S £9.99) From Pernod Ricard. Bold aromatics with toast, herbs, figs and some spicy vanilla notes. Broad, intense, richly textured palate has real richness, with ripe melon and pineapple fruit combining well with some new oak. A really stylish effort which justifies it’s £10 price-tag. 89/100

Kaituna Hills Reserve Cabernet Merlot 2006 Hawkes Bay, New Zealand (M&S £8.99)
From Pernod Ricard. Very fresh, bright blackcurrant fruit nose with a savoury, gravelly edge and some subtle grassy greenness hiding in the background. The palate shows a nice combination of sweet but just-ripe dark fruits with some more savoury, fresh herby notes. This is what you hope inexpensive Bordeaux could be like: generous yet savoury, and digestible and food friendly. 87/100

Clocktower Pinot Noir 2007 Marlborough, New Zealand (M&S £10.99)
From Wither Hills. A richly flavoured Marlborough Pinot with powerful dark cherry and raspberry fruit together with a strongly savoury herby, slightly green, earthy structure. It’s not as elegant as some top Pinots, but it is attractive and fresh. 88/100

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2 Comments:

At 11:16 PM, Blogger Martin said...

Small point only - if one is going to pint out 3 of the wines are produced by a large booze conglomerate, then for consistancy good idea to recognise that Wither Hills is also produced by large booze conglomerate - Lion Nathan. (Perhaps the reason we see a range of second labels etc?)

 
At 12:31 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Fair enough - it's just that these were the names credited on the labels

 

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