{"id":23501,"date":"2019-05-09T21:47:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T21:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=23501"},"modified":"2019-05-09T21:47:01","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T21:47:01","slug":"comparing-new-zealand-and-ontario-pinot-noirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/new-zealand\/comparing-new-zealand-and-ontario-pinot-noirs","title":{"rendered":"Comparing New Zealand and Ontario Pinot Noirs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yesterday I took part in a really interesting event in Toronto. It brought together 12 Ontario Pinot Noirs with 12 New Zealand Pinots in a blind tasting, and I was one of the three session leaders, along with John Szabo (who coordinated the tasting) and Cameron Douglas. We had different winemakers on our panel as we tasted in two sessions. The first had a theme of stems and berries, and the second was focusing on subregionality.<\/p>\n

Why New Zealand and Ontario Pinots together? There are some parallels: both industries entered their modern eras in the 1970s, and both are cool climate wine regions. We tasted the following wines blind, and here are my notes and scores as written.<\/p>\n

Stems and berries<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Clos Henri Pinot Noir 2016 Marlborough, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>20% whole cluster. This is bright and fresh with sweet cherries and fine herbs. Has nice brightness to the fruit. Shows elegance and nice fruit expression, together with an appealing meaty savouriness in the background. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Martinborough Vineyards Te Tera Pinot Noir 2017 Martinborough, New Zealand<\/strong>
\nDestemmed. Lovely sweet, direct, pretty cherry fruit here. Silky and fruit driven with fine herb notes in the background. Lovely purity with fine-grained structure. Shows finesse. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Churton Pinot Noir 2016 Marlborough, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>No stems. Green herbal note on the nose. Quite rich and powerful with a touch or rhubarb and some nice raspberry brightness. Has a lift here. Has some crunch to the fruit. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Hidden Bench Rosomel Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015 Beamsville Bench, Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>100% Destemmed. Fresh and expressive with a savoury cedary edge to the structured cherry and plum fruit. Nice freshness and structure, with some supporting oak. Stylish wine. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Adamo Wismer-Parke Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016 Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>50% whole cluster. Pale coloured and delightfully leafy and elegant. Has lovely savoury hints and fine-grained structure. Very finely poised with nice purity and elegance. Lighter styled but still has some structure. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Bachelder Wismer-Parke Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015 Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>Destemmed, not crushed. Sweetly aromatic with some candied fruit character. Has a jelly-ish edge to the sweet red fruits. Fruity style with some appeal. Also has some leafy, slightly herby hints. 92\/100<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Burn Cottage Pinot Noir 2016 Central Otago, New Zealand <\/strong>
\n23% whole cluster. Dense but elegant with nicely structured black cherry fruit. Has nice brightness. Silky and fine with some meaty hints. Lovely stuff showing lushness allied to elegance. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Rockburn ‘The Art’ Pinot Noir 2016 Central Otago, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>30% whole cluster. Meaty, spicy and quite savoury with some grunt under the bright cherry and berry fruits. Has good structure and a hint of mint, too. Very attractive in a rich, structured style. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Toi Toi Reserve Pinot Noir 2014 Central Otago, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>Dense and structured with bold, substantial black cherry and blackberry fruit. Lovely structure with great concentration to the fruit. Lots going on here. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Southbrook Laundry Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017 Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>60% whole cluster. Lighter in colour with fresh, supple raspberry and cherry fruit. Has some rhubarb and sour cherry character. Very supple and quite elegant, with nice brightness. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Trius Clark Farm Vineyard Showcase Pinot Noir 2016 Four Mile Creek, Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>100% destemmed. Lovely floral aromatics here with sweet cherry and raspberry fruit. Lovely textured mid-palate with nice precision. Generous fruit here. Very stylish. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Leaning Post Senchuk Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016 Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>40% stems. Supple bright and expressive with light red cherry fruit. Light in colour with nice spicy hints and some supple red fruits. A little edgy. Nicely expressive. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Same, but different<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Greystone Omihi Pinot Noir 2016 Waipara, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>Compact with nice sweet red berry fruits and good purity. Has a fruity ease to it with some fine grained tannins and a sweetly fruited finish. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Stanners Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017 Prince Edward County, Canada
\n<\/strong>Fresh, bright and nicely structured with robust cherry and plum fruit. Has some density. A fresh, vivid style with some meaty hints. Quite compact. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Stoneleigh Latitude Pinot Noir 2017 Marlborough, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>Vivid and bright with sweet cherry and plum fruit. Has a savoury twist on the palate. Shows fresh raspberries and a bit of meaty spiciness, too. Lovely freshness. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Tawse Quarry Road Pinot Noir 2015 Vinemount Ridge, Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>Lovely texture here: has some silkiness to the fresh, sweet raspberry and cherry fruit. Lots of fruit here. Lovely weight in the mouth. Silky and rounded but still fresh. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Nautilus Southern Valleys Pinot Noir 2015 Marlborough, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>Ripe, smooth and sweet with a hint of ginger spice. Has nice depth and texture here: a broad wine with lovely fruit intensity. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Flat Rock Estate Pinot Noir 2016 Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>Open and fleshy with a green herbal edge to the smooth berry and cherry fruits. Quite an elegant style with a seductive quality to the red cherry fruit on the palate. 94\/100<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Luna Estate Eclipse Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016 Martinborough, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>Generous, smooth and ripe with sweet berry fruits and some floral cherry character. Very fruity with good concentration and a smooth, silky mid palate. Rich but still in balance. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Malivoire Mottiar Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017 Beamsville Bench, Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>Light and expressive. Has some plum and stewed rhubarb with fine herbal hints. Nicely weighted. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Inniskillin Montague Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016 Four Mile Creek, Niagara, Canada<\/strong>
\nThis has nice density to the fruit. Sweet black cherries and plums with good structure. Very polished and generous. Has a smoothness to the mid palate but also some structure. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Loveblock Someone’s Darling Pinot Noir 2016 Central Otago, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>Has a green edge to the sweet berry fruits. Fresh and supple. Quite a ripe style with lots of polish, but also some greenness. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Thirty Bench Small Lot Pinot Noir 2016 Beamsville Bench, Niagara, Canada
\n<\/strong>Ripe and sweetly fruited with a supple leafy edge to the cherry fruit. Lovely open style with some complexity. Very nicely poised and quite elegant. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Felton Road Bannockbury Pinot Noir 2010 Central Otago, New Zealand
\n<\/strong>Has a little bit of development here. Lovely green herbal hints and meaty, sweet berry and cherry fruit. Ripe and seductive with lovely weight. 95\/100<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I took part in a really interesting event in Toronto. It brought together 12 Ontario Pinot Noirs with 12 New Zealand Pinots in a blind tasting, and I was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,9,60],"tags":[364,352,378],"class_list":["post-23501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-new-zealand","category-pinot-noir","tag-canada","tag-new-zealand","tag-pinot-noir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23501","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=23501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23507,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23501\/revisions\/23507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}