Mike Henderson savours some different flavours when it comes to pinot noir.
I was talking to a friend over the weekend who is a rep for a wine import and distribution company, which has some Marlborough labels in its portfolio.
He mentioned that while it was straightforward selling sav blanc, chardonnay and the like, pinot noir from outside Central Otago is a much tougher ask down in these parts.
With such a highly recognised region on our doorstep, local wine drinkers can be a wee bit parochial.
My tasting colleagues and I do sometimes fall into the same trap, so it was rewarding to be exposed to different flavours.
Price: $28
Rating: Very good to excellent
This opens to dusty lead pencil, red fruits and hints of rhubarb; becoming more perfumed with aeration. Fresh and bright, quite zingy with a little angularity at first, but this grows in suppleness, weight and poise with time, developing an appealing sweet and sour counterpoint and a little crushed leaf nuance.
Tasty.
Price: $32
Rating: Very good
Hints of funk, char and savoury elements: the nose is a little wild with one of thetasters calling it violets and forest floor, the other sulphur. Silky entry with savoury notes and a sweet fruit underlay, red fruits coaxed out with time finishing on a charry note.
Dry, chewy and well structured; a food rather than aperitif style?
Price: $26
Rating: Good to very good
Sweeter, perfumed nose with raspberry and cranberry evident. Sweet fruit with a supple mouth feel: a lick of acid rounds up the finish giving nice brightness. Feels quite youthful, perhaps a whisper raw for now, but the fruit weight builds in the mouth bringing in wild and dried herbs. Edgy (in a positive sense), juicy and crunchy.
Price: $33
Rating: Excellent
Opens to herbal, eucalypt and almost medicinal (in a good way) notes with tinges of dark fruits and later, rosemary. Rich, ripe, dark and brooding in the mouth with savoury nuances growing. The palate ever changing with herbs and mint, then oak, then spice and Christmas cake, lead pencil and sappiness.
Firm structured, and lots going on here.
Price: $42
Rating: Very good to excellent
Funky initially with a ripe cheese note, moving into dark fruits, fruit cake and charry oak. Delicacy at first with a silky palate, then this builds in weight allowing those dark fruits and then cherry to shine through. Tannins and acidity balance the fruit weight with a zesty, sour jube note on the close.
Feels youthful yet, but the elements are there.
