Supermarkets tend to have a ceiling of around $50, with most of the action at the lower price points. The chain stores will push that ceiling a bit higher, specialised retailers even more so, while cellar doors themselves may be the best place to hunt out top-end limited release options.
It was a pleasure and a treat for my two eager tasting buddies ‘‘Collins & McLaren’’ and I to sit down to this fabulous selection of high-end Pinot Noir: these are wines that you treasure and savour, and they showed their class. A cheeky wee French interloper there too, with a Central connection.
2019 Mount Edward Pisa Terrace Pinot Noir
Rating Outstanding
Fascinating nose, forest
floor, mushroom, earth,
spices, gravelly
minerality, sweet fruit in
support, complex & truly
engaging. Elegance.
Lovely vibrancy in the
mouth, complexity, a
suggestion of bottle
age and a long, dry
finish. Elegance,
poise, a sense of
effortlessness, so
much going on and
still promising more.
Structure, depth,
adding truffle with
time. Delicious.
2022 Ayrburn Ten Acre Central Otago Pinot Noir
Rating Excellent to Outstanding
Graphite, lead
pencil, leading into
powerful fruit, tar,
flower petal, fruit
compote, real
volume on show.
Generosity to the
palate, sweetly ripe
fruit shifts to a finer-
boned and drier
expression with fine
tannins framing the
close. Youthful,
juicy, lip-smacking
with engaging
freshness on the
close. Plenty of
ingredient and
looking to the future.
2021 Blank Canvas Anthem Vineyard Gibbston Pinot Noir
Rating Excellent to Outstanding
Hints of tilled earth and
lead pencil give way to a
complex amalgam of
darker fruits, wild herb,
spice & savoury nuances,
stalk notes too. Silky
entry, supple & rounded
before cranberry and
redcurrant fruit notes
add cooling
zestiness. The nose
hints at bottle age,
but the palate is all
about freshness and
piquancy that would
make this a great
companion to food.
2022 Gibbston Valley Reserve Central Otago Pinot Noir
Rating Outstanding
Gorgeous nose, fragrance,
wild herb/stalk influences,
stony minerality, fruit
supporting the whole, an
aerial quality. Powerfully
structured but perfect fruit
depth to support it,
managing that
marvellous balancing
act between power &
depth while retaining
lightness and
ethereality. Great
balance, energy &
vibrancy, flavours
hang in the mouth.
Serious, a complete
wine.
2020 Domaine Thomson Mercurey Ez Chenes
Rating Excellent to Outstanding
Powerful nose melding wild
herbs, rhubarb, spices, ink
& fragrance, darker fruits.
Rich & juicy, a deeper &
darker register, almost
crunchiness to the tannins
before an appealing tangy
quality enlivens the
finish. Picks up warm
leather & leaf on nose
with air, the tannins
more evident now,
perhaps some bottle
age but also singing
with potential?
Balance, lip-
smacking, it just
works.
2021 Carrick Excelsior Bannockburn Pinot Noir
Rating Excellent
Subtlety, unfurling as the
fruit builds, warm leather,
earth, smoke, perhaps a
whisper closed? A bit of
a brooding beast with
real tannic grip, crying
out for food. Upright,
standing at attention for
now, I think the
elements and
potential are there
but it needs time to
relax and flesh out.
Big, big, chewy
tannins today.
2019 Misha’s Vineyard Verismo Central Otago Pinot Noir
Rating Excellent
After a number of ‘bigger’
wines, this confidently
plays the light and ethereal
card, fragrant, perfumed
with a touch of wildness
& forest floor. Delicacy,
elegance, the fruit
doesn’t stand out yet
is integral to the wine.
Lead pencil, iron
filings, spices, lovely
complexity and
deceptive tannic
backbone. Power
without weight, not
holding back any
secrets.
2022 Gibbston Valley Le Maitre Gibbston Pinot Noir
Rating Excellent to Outstanding
Flirts with funky, savoury/
umami characters,
fineness, all about the
whole, forest floor &
mushroom with air.
Cooling & fresh as spring
water, vibrancy & zest in
the mouth, nice grip &
structure, cranberry, a
sense of pinosity
(rather than a ball-
tearer), with both
saline & gravelly
touches to the finish.
Complexity, interest,
intrigue, hits some
fascinatingly
different buttons.
