{"id":16712,"date":"2017-01-22T18:24:02","date_gmt":"2017-01-22T18:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=16712"},"modified":"2017-01-22T18:24:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-22T18:24:02","slug":"some-highlights-from-a-central-otago-pinot-noir-tasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/new-zealand\/some-highlights-from-a-central-otago-pinot-noir-tasting","title":{"rendered":"Some highlights from a Central Otago Pinot Noir tasting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

I arrived in Queenstown to a good English winter: rain showers, low cloud, and a temperature of 8 C. There was snow on top of the hills. This is summer in a cool climate wine region. Time to taste some wine with the mixed international group who\u2019d, like me, just arrived in town.<\/p>\n

Eighteen producers gathered in the cellar and tasting room of Mount Edward\u2019s winery at Gibbston. Each had brought a couple of wines, and I tasted all of them. Overally, what struck me is that there\u2019s quite a bit of stylistic diversity, as well as subregional and even vineyard influence. And these wines weren\u2019t just about fruit. Things haven\u2019t been standing still in Central Otago: winegrowers talk with each other, they\u2019re eager to learn. I also got the impression that the influence of the two large contract winemaking facilities, which has been such a feature of the region, is being felt a little less. These are some of my favourites from the tasting.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Mount Edward Miurkirk Vineyard Pinot Noir 2011 Central Otago, New Zealand<\/strong>
\nPowerful and quite spicy with nice freshness and precision. Black cherries, spice, and lovely structure, with a hint of olive richness. In a good place. 94\/100<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Rippon Pinot Noir 2010 Central Otago, New Zealand<\/strong>
\nThis is a really serious wine. Tight and structured, with real grip, but also tending towards elegance and understatement. There\u2019s a really nice savoury character to this wine. Just on the start of its journey, this has a long life ahead of it. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Aurum \u2018Madeleiene\u2019 Pinot Noir 2014 Central Otago, New Zealand<\/strong>
\nThis is 667 clone, and it\u2019s 100% whole bunch. Lovely sweet black cherry nose with some spiciness. Has a liqueur-like richness to the fruit, but also some savoury spicy structure. Generous, floral, but with some density. 94\/100<\/p>\n

\"rudi<\/p>\n

Quartz Reef \u2018Black Label\u2019 Pinot Noir 2014 Central Otago, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>This is the one ferment that Rudi Bauer (above) thinks reflects his Bendigo vineyard best, so it\u2019s usually 4 tons of fruit. This is 12 barrels, but only 6 will go to this label. Fresh, sweet, focused black cherry and plum fruit with good structure and fine spiciness. Very pure with nice detail and structure. 94\/100<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Akitu Pinot Noir A1 2013 Central Otago, New Zealand<\/strong>
\nThis is the one of the two Akitu wines with a black label. It\u2019s from a vineyard in Wanaka on old schist, and the wines are made at Maude by PJ Charteris. 70% Abel clone, the rest UCD5 and sometimes some 777. Powerful but very fresh with lovely vivid, bright black cherry fruit and good structure. There\u2019s great precision and purity here: a really serious effort. The white label is also delicious and a bit more fruit dominated. 95\/100<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Prophet\u2019s Rock Pinot Noir 2009 Central Otago, New Zealand<\/strong>
\nPaul Pujol (above) says this was a very cool year with a cold February, resulting in lighter coloured wines. The challenge was not to respond to the little extraction of colour in the ferment by working it harder. The result of his restraint is a beautiful pale Pinot that is ageing fabulously. Fine red cherries with some dried herbs and good structure and acid here. 94\/100<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Mount Difficulty Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2014 Central Otago, New Zealand<\/strong>
\nVery fresh and fine with raspberry and cherry fruit. Quite detailed with nice grip and finesse. Lovely fruit quality. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Felton Road Cornish Point Pinot Noir 2015 Central Otago, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>One of the prettiest wines I\u2019ve had in a long time, and just about irresistible. Beautiful floral aromatics with supple, silky fruit on the palate. Elegant and accessible with fine sweet red cherries. 95\/100
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Valli Gibbston Pinot Noir 2015 Central Otago, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>Grant Taylor says that he\u2019s no longer scared of cooler vintages, like 2015, even in Gibbston, because they allow the place to show itself. This 2015 is fresh, grippy and firm, as you\u2019d expect of a young wine, but it also has direct cherry and raspberry fruit with a primary, delicious personality. 94\/100
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Peregrine Pinnacle Pinot Noir 2014 Central Otago, New Zealand<\/strong>
\nThis is a selection from Peregrine\u2019s Bendigo vineyard, which is farmed organically, and it\u2019s not yet released, hence the picture shows winemaker Nadine Cross\u2019 hand written \u2018label\u2019. Very firm and detailed with a fine spiciness and good grip. Lovely structure here with a savoury edge to the red cherry and plum notes. Has grip and good acidity. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I arrived in Queenstown to a good English winter: rain showers, low cloud, and a temperature of 8 C. There was snow on top of the hills. This is summer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,60],"tags":[21,352,378],"class_list":["post-16712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-zealand","category-pinot-noir","tag-central-otago","tag-new-zealand","tag-pinot-noir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16712"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16727,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16712\/revisions\/16727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}