Decanterberry Tales - A Willamette Valley Wine Blog - newzealand tag

Main Divide, Marlborough, Pinot Noir, 2006

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 05:11:06 GMT

So I have this sort of funny issue with New Zealand Pinot Noir. I love Pinot; it's definitely my favorite varietal (I live in Portland, Oregon, so that's an easy fit). I often hear how great New Zealand Pinots can be, and how they are the new up-and-coming hot spot for the grape. And yet, I can't seem to find one that I like. Now to be far, I haven't had more than a dozen Pinots from the land of the kiwi's. But not a single one that's I found to be good? What are the odds?

Well, I finally found one that I enjoyed. That's the good news. On the other hand, if I would have drank this wine blind, I likely would not have guessed Pinot Noir. This wine was the biggest, most meaty Pinot I've ever tasted. It was more like a Napa Cab. The look of it was very dark purple -- not at all translucent -- and it was full of strong tannins (but not in a bad way). It was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife (again, I don't mean this in a bad way).

The nose had tons of vanilla, bark, and earth. Then there was cinnamon, clove, white pepper and all-spice. The taste was tricky. Blackberry? Maybe black cherry? A little licorice. Some of that stem taste (not overly bitter). Nutmeg. Carrot. Maybe the fruit was more like currant -- it was not sweet, and was a bit understated. The finish was long, with black cherry, nutmeg, and some kind of veggie -- maybe parsnip, or rhubarb, or perhaps okra.

This was a crazy Pinot. Everyone liked it, but everyone also agreed it was a Pinot like no other.

Cost:

Rating: 8.5

The Red Square, Pinot Noir, 2005

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:51:37 GMT

Our friends Andrew and Madeleine bought a raffle and subsequently won a night of Pinot Noir with a "Wine Educator". And they were nice enough to invite us to participate!

This was the first of five Pinots we had that night. New Zealand, Burgundy, Australia (Tasmania), Oregon, and California -- and in that order. This one was from New Zealand.

I told our wine MC that I had, of course, heard about New Zealand Pinot Noir, and that it was considered the next "hot" place to produce the stuff. However, while I have tried a number of Pinots from the land of the kiwi's, I have yet to actually drink a Pinot I liked. And exacerbating the problem: Pinot's from New Zealand tend to be fairly expensive. No, not as costly as ones from Oregon, but it's hard to gamble something like $20 to $40 bucks on a total mystery.

So, here was another opportunity to find gold down, well, not exactly "under", but down in the southern hemisphere anyway. Disappointingly, well, I was disappointed ... again.

The nose was ... vanilla! Lots of oak here. Past that, there was some rose. The body was light. The flavors reminded me of a lot of that 2005 Pinot from Oregon: it tastes like someone added orange or tangerine juice to the wine. It's just too acidic for my tastes. Under the citrus, there was raspberry and hints of strawberry, but that's about all I got. Denise found a bit more complexity -- fig, bark and dry dirt in there too. The finish was also raspberry, pomegranate, and some of that apple-pucker.

However, this was one of two bottle (out of the five) that still contained wine in them in the morning. And Andrew reported that this wine improved a lot the next night. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to experience that. So I will, necessarily, remain a New Zealand skeptic.

Cost:

Rating: 6.0

Marlborough, Oyster Bay, Pinot Noir, 2006

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:27:37 GMT

I've read a lot about the up-and-coming New Zealand Pinots, and yet they're always (or just about) as expensive as Oregon or French Pinot. Why gamble on my limited budget? So it was nice to get this as a gift. However, my fears were realized. It wasn't horrible Pinot. In fact, it was very drinkable. Yet, it was overly oaked-up. Tons of vanilla. So it's a bit of a "pop" Pinot, if you will.

The flavors were not bad, but not in the least complex. Basically, it's super-red-cherry. On the nose there were hints of something -- maybe squash, maybe dry hay -- but overall it's cherry. Lastly, the mouth-feel was, well, not exactly syrupy -- and not biting -- but it was thicker than it ought to be. On the other hand it wasn't too thin either. And definitely not exciting.

Cost:

Rating: 5.5