$60+

Spotlight on Sangiovese: Ricasoli Castello di Brolio Chianti Classico 2001

November 10, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Aged Sangiovese is a rare treat and one that most drinkers have a hard time getting their hands on. Luckily this wine is currently avaiable in the market and is showing very very well right now.

Grape and Soil

Late-ripening Sangiovese is a challenge to grow in a region like Chianti. Less warm (and therefore less reliable) than Montalcino, most Sangiovese in Chianti must be planted on southerly slopes in order to sop up enough sun to ripen effectively. Wines mirror vintage considerably as a result. This has also led to the propensity to blend Sangiovese with other grapes in Chianti, most often Cabernet Sauvignon. But times are a changin’

Soils in Chianti vary, but Chianti Classico is a mix of shale and clay, which tends to produce wines of greater concentration than the soils outside of the Classico zone. Since the 1990’s, Italians have been rediscovering this terroir, amongst others, and are now understanding how to effectively plant Sangiovese without the need for blending. Nonetheless it is possible to find great blended wines along with 100% varietal wines, as this Chianti Classico attests.

One of the Oldest Estates in Europe

Ricasoli is a very large but also respected producer in Chianti with a serious history stretching back to the 12th century. A later iteration of Baron Ricasoli (Bettino) was one of the founders of Chianti Classico in the 19th century and was hugely influential in researching clones and blending, ultimately finding a formula that led to today’s DOCG rules. Amazingly, the estate is still in the hands of the family (if you want a contrast between new and old world wine estates, I can’t think of a better one).

The Wine

The Castello di Brolio is more than just Chianti Classico DOCG, it is rather a single vineyard site that is considered to be one of the best in the region. Made with mostly Sangiovese (usually about 80%) with about 10% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, this wine displays all the classic Sangiovese markers of leather, earth, cherry and tobacco leaf.

This is an incredibly delicious wine with superb high acid structure. The oak has now integrated, though the wine could go longer in bottle. The Castello is a great example of oak aging (18 months) that works and integrates well with the grape. I detected some darker chocolate notes along with rich ripe black cherries and an absolute ton of concentration. This will please those who like bigger wines and those who prefer wines with a considerable acid backbone. The intensity of the fruit and the acid meld extremely well. Simply put, the wine has attained uncommon balance. Balance is often the missing key to wines. Most drinkers don’t realize that they will in fact enjoy many styles of wine so long as they are properly balanced, an unfortunately rare phenomenon. And, it works with food. A “prestige” wine that works with food – finally!

The 10 years of age suits this wine well as it is still youthful but very integrated. It could go 5 more.

Excellent
$79 at Kits Wine Cellar (on sale for $59)

Filed Under: $60+, Cabernet Sauvignon, Excellent, Italian Wine, Merlot, Sangiovese, Sangiovese

Spotlight on Sangiovese: Querciabella Camartina 2005

November 4, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

A highly respected producer from Chianti, Querciabella also makes this top-of-the-line Super Tuscan IGT from Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon – a wine I was quite excited to try. Clearly this wine gets lots of points, is made to be enjoyed by an international palate and is well made. But it just isn’t for me.

Where is my traditional Sangiovese? These oak-inflected wines with international grapes lack structure and varietal clarity. They are undoubtedly softer, easier to appreciate on their own and suit the modern palate. But where is the acid? The bite, the fire, the peppy joy of great Sangiovese? It’s not in wines like this. These wines are made for opulent steak dinners rather than simple veal bolognese pastas or sweetly subtle lamb chops.

That said, this is a very good IGT and you can taste the Sangiovese influence – bright cherry and leather – even if it lacks some transparency with its micro-oxygenated textural creaminess and oak spices. The oak kills the mouthwatering qualities of high acid Sangiovese, but, again, this is well made wine. It’s similar in weight and style to a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and will certainly gain amazing textural seamlessness with a couple years of bottle age. I just can’t abide. 14% abv.

Very Good+ (but my personal preference would rate this Good+)
$100 at Kits Wine Cellar

Filed Under: $60+, Cabernet Sauvignon, Italian Wine, Sangiovese, Sangiovese, Very Good

Spotlight on Sangiovese: Salvioni Brunello di Montalcino 2003

October 23, 2011 By Shea 4 Comments

Despite its remarkable beauty and immediate loveability, Italy is a daunting country for any wine lover. With over 800 grape varieties, countless DOC and DOCGs and thousands of wineries, Italy is both deeply regional and a nuanced amalgam of grape and terroir.

While I have consumed hundreds of Italian wines, I feel as though I have only a limited understanding of the country. When faced with an immeasurable chasm of learning I like to start with the fundamentals. Sangiovese is perhaps the Italian grape, with nearly twice as many plantings as the next most populous varieties. Though planted throughout Italy, Sangiovese is best known in Tuscany and Umbria, with other significant plantings in Le Marche and Emilia-Romagna.

Sangiovese is also a grape that seems unable to succeed anywhere else in the world. Despite occasional pleasurable examples from California and Australia, for the most part nowhere makes good Sangiovese except for Italy. And yet within Italy, Sangiovese is possible of many different expressions.

In this spotlight I will focus on understanding the many faces of Sangiovese: whether terroir truly speaks or whether clonal selection and viticulture and cellar practices make the most significant impact on the final product. What makes Sangiovese so uniquely Italian and which producers are staying true to the grape’s indigenous character?

Instability and Brunello

Sangiovese is notoriously genetically unstable. It mutates with ease and clonal variation proliferates. The traditional line for Brunello di Montalcino’s greatness was that its Sangiovese clone were unique. There are, however, at least 6 different clones used in Montalcino, and it is more likely that the warm climate and the sandy and limestone soils contribute at least as much to the region’s distinctiveness than the particular clones used (soils also vary considerably between the northern and southern vineyards in Brunello di Montalcino).

Sangiovese is a late-ripening variety. In Brunello, with its hotter climate as compared to other Tuscan regions, Sangiovese vinifies into powerful, tannic and dark fruited juice. The required minimum of 4 years aging exists because the juice from these grapes is so taught and undrinkable in its youth. Most Brunello di Montalcino’s also need at least 5 years bottle age after being released before it becomes truly drinkable. With age, however, Brunello di Montalcino can blossom into a many-scented, deeply elegant and yet powerful wine of great distinction.

On Salvioni

Salvioni is a new-comer in Montalcino compared to storied producers like Biondi-Santi (1888) or Fattoria dei Barbi (the next oldest at around 1950). Founded in 1985, Salvioni has quickly catapulted into the upper echelons of Brunello di Montalcino, sharing pride of place with producers like Soldera. Owning 4ha of vines planted in the original Brunello di Montalcino zone (at the high-elevation vineyards near Biondi-Santi), Salvioni heavily restricts yields through considerable pruning but ultimately vinifies the wines very traditionally, using extended macerations and blends together 5 different clones. Only about 800 cases are produced and Salvioni makes no riserva bottling.

Choosing a good producer in Montalcino is essential. Since 1975, the number of producers has increased from 25 to 500. Plantings are at an all time high and many critics believe that the region is over-planted and many sub-standard sites are being made into wine that simply does not bear the hallmark quality for which Brunello di Montalcino has become known. The battle between modernists and traditionalists continues, with modernists winning short term scores and making rich up front fruity wines, but with traditionalists making more difficult to appreciate but much longer aging wines. Salvioni is generally seen as part of the traditionalist camp.

A Traditional Brunello

2003 was a hot year across Europe. It was difficult to make good wine in this year, particularly in warmer zones like Brunello di Montalcino. Salvioni’s high altitude vineyards, however, assisted greatly in producing a more elegant and balanced wines than most of his peers.

Still pouring very dark red despite its 8 years of age, this Brunello was all classic dried cherries, leather, sandalwood and flowers on the nose. The palate offered a powerful but tight acid structure and was ultimately still too tannic and not yet fully resolved.

It is always unfortunate to open such a prized bottle when too young, and that was certainly the case here though this Brunello had started to open and show its complexity after a few hours decanting. Licorice, roots and dried cherries – right now this is good but not great for the price and I expected a lot more. I believe this still needs 5+ years in the bottle, but it is also possible that 2003 will never shed its awkwardness even as it becomes less aggressive with age. I will open another in a few years to see.

Very Good+
$180 at Kits Wine

Filed Under: $60+, Italian Wine, Sangiovese, Sangiovese, Very Good

Spotlight on Portuguese Dry Wine: Quinta do Crasto Vinha da Ponte 2003

August 30, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Probably the best represented of Portugal’s top wineries in British Columbia, Quinta do Crasto has been making wine for almost 400 years. It is now run by the Roquette family whose lineage and relationship with Quinta do Crasto reaches back to the beginning of the 20th century.

A Rare Single Vineyard Bottling

Crasto makes a wide range of table wine, from the cheap and easy drinking Flor de Crasto to single varietal bottlings of Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz to its two top bottlings of single vineyard wines: the Vinha Maria Teresa and this, the Vinha da Ponte. All the wine is grown and made in the Douro valley.

It is rare to find single vineyard table wines (and, for the most part, port) from Portugal. It is perhaps the youth of the high end table wine industry that has yet to discover all the possibilities of site and terroir. The Vinha da Ponte is an excellent example of how good single vineyard wine can be from the Douro.

French Structure, Portuguese Character

With vines nearing a century of age, the Vinha da Ponte vineyard is planted in schist soils with a field blend of 22 different grape varieties, which is likely what gives this wine its unique character. As is common in the steep Douro vineyards, the grapes are picked by hand.

An aristocratic, bordeaux-like nose offers cassis, sandalwood, and slate. This is a wine with great balance but also with the unique stamp of Touriga Nacional: firm tannin and a unique richly intense brambly dark berry fruit character. Delicious, lithely integrated oak gives the wine structure and poise and vinification gives it an easy, silky texture.

Thus, a wine with the structure of a French wine, but the flavour and density of a Portuguese wine. I thought it was the best I have yet tasted in this profile and, while it will likely improve with a couple more years, it is clearly within its prime drinking window.

Excellent to Excellent+
$133 at BCLDB

P.S. This is likely to be my last post in several weeks as I head off on vacation to France to visit the vineyards of Alsace and the Rhone.

Filed Under: $60+, Excellent, Portuguese Dry Wine, Portuguese Wine, Tinta Cao, Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacionale

Spotlight on Portuguese Dry Wine: Lemos & Van Zeller CV Curriculum Vitae 2005

August 12, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Cristiano Van Zeller is one of the most famous names for dry wine in Portugal. Now owner of Quinta do Vale Donna Maria, he has had his stamp on a few top dry wine estates in the Douro, including Quinta do Roriz.

Certainly a bit of a whiz and one with a penchant for new projects, Van Zeller also seems to have a fairly new world bent with his wine making style. So he is both a good example of the modernization of Portugal but also of the divide between big ballsy New Worldy wines and wines with more subtlety and elegance, which are also possible in Portugal.

Portugal’s Grape

Touriga Nacional is amongst the absolute best quality grapes in Portugal for making red wine. Long used in port production, it is now seeing centre stage in numerous highly regarded dry reds. TN makes delicious full bodied wines but is also very aggressive, and in the worlds of Oz Clarke is “a grape of tremendous personality but with aggressive tendencies that is usually much better when softened by blending with something else”.

The wine has an expressive bordeaux-like nose, staying true to its similarity to Cabernet Sauvignon: blackberry, plum and plumskin, spices and a bit of leafyness.

This is fully fruity on the palate, very forward and is filled with big bright acid. I find this more like a very good California wine on the palate than anything old world, though the tannins manifest dustily on the palate. You can definitely taste a little stewy fruit here, and some alcohol and so I’d say this wine has less finesse than the Chrysea. Overall, it is still a bit harsh now with fairly overt oak and tannin and could clearly do with another 4-6 years of bottle age. In some ways the wine is a little unbalanced, especially for its price tag. Right now, while I respect the quality of this wine, it is unfortunately a pass for me based on QPR.

Summary

New World style but distinctly Portuguese grapes and flavours. A good wine for those who like em big. Personally I prefer the red wines from Portugal with more elegance – a hard thing to achieve in its climate.

Very Good+
~$100 at Everything Wine

Filed Under: $60+, Portuguese Dry Wine, Portuguese Wine, Touriga Nacionale, Very Good

Wind Gap Griffin’s Lair Syrah 2007

July 15, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

Pax Mahle gained his fame making syrah for Pax winery, which grew from a tiny boutique to one of the hottest Syrah focused cult wineries in California. Prices, of course, shot up with the scores and the wine progressed from fascinating renditions of terroir-driven syrah to, on occasion, very large overbearing wines. Pax Mahle eventually left Pax winery to start his own winery (Wind Gap), which would focus on his desire to make more ‘honest’ wines from grapes grown on the best vineyards in California. Griffin’s Lair is, for Syrah, one such vineyard.

Purely Made Syrah

I’ve been wanting to try these wines for years and am very excited to find them in Vancouver. These wines represent what California can become, particularly with Syrah, which is being pulled out at ever increasing rates in the state. It seems Syrah is one hard grape to sell, which has helped to lower prices. In fact, I think Syrah makes the best value ‘great’ wines in the world.

But this is not just about Syrah, or rather, it is just about Syrah. With 100% whole cluster, natural fermentations, alcohol under 14%, crushed by foot and no clarification, this is amongst the most non-interventionst wines you can get from California.

Naturally Huge Wine

This is fascinating wine, meaty and inky dark, with plums rolling out in its big bold aromatics. There is briar and rich blackberry on this very rich and intense nose. This has classic Syrah flavours of pepper and game along with great full-on dark fruit. An impressively dense wine without being over the top or overtly opulent. This needs some time in the bottle before coming into its own, but this is surprisingly well balanced for its heft. I think this is likely due to the fact that the hugeness of this wine is part of its terroir rather than any attempt to make a monster wine. As such, this is wine with balance and structure despite its hugeness.

Right now I would note that the palate is still a little aggressive compared to how it will be with some age, but I have no doubts this will turn into something special.

Excellent
$90 at Kits Wine Cellar

Filed Under: $60+, Californian Wine, Excellent, Syrah

Spotlight on New Zealand: Pyramid Valley Vineyards – Fanaticism and Perfection

July 9, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

New Zealand is a country that is still discovering its vinous identity. While much further along than British Columbia, Kiwi wineries are still experimenting and discovering what works best and where. There are many very good wines available beyond the traditional Sauvignon Blanc, including some stellar Pinot Noirs and Syrahs, and a few Chardonnays. However, there are still few wines that take it to the next level, those wines and wineries that define the greatness of a place.

California, for all its failings, has several of these sorts of wineries and is ahead of most everywhere else in the New World in this respect. While this profile has certainly introduced me to many very good wines that I did not realize were being made in New Zealand, it has also presented to me a country that has yet to discover its defining moment. Or at least so I thought until now.

An American in … New Zealand?

Two Americans, Mike and Claudia Weersing, founded Pyramid Valley in 1996, arriving in New Zealand after Mike studied winemaking in Burgundy and apprenticed with various stints at Hubert de Montille, Domaine de la Pousse d’Or, Nicholas Potel, Jean Michel-Deiss, Ernst Loosen, Randall Graham, Evesham Wood, and James Halliday (at Coldstream Hills). For those not in the know, these represent some of the top winemakers in Burgundy, Alsace, Germany, California, Oregon and Australia. Not only that, but most of these winemakers are proponents of biodynamics and minimalist winemaking.

While searching for the ideal vineyard site on which to found their winery, the Weersings initially started making wines by leasing vineyard land from some top growers across New Zealand. These wines represent their “growers” series of wines, which are interesting in themselves, though clearly represent a voyage of experimentation rather than the realization of a vision.

Mike Weersing is clearly a fanatical man. He spent years looking for his ideal vineyard site and ultimately found it in the middle of nowhere in central New Zealand (Canterburry) where not many (if any?) others are making wine. He has planted 95% of his vines with ungrafted rootstock and claims that the own rooted vines burrow deeper into the limestone soils than the grafted vines. His vineyards are on sites that have never seen the use of chemical pesticides or other human made intrusions on ‘nature’. The wines made from these vineyards are the “Home Vineyard” wines, as opposed to the “Growers Collection” of wines made from other vineyard sources.

Biodynamics, Again

These wines are also fully biodynamic, and the Weersings take this philosophy to its extremes, harvesting in relation to the phases of the moon and even attempting to isolate yeasts that live on the grapes from those that are indigenous to the cellar itself. In fact, Mike is going all out to try to get the saccharomyces yeast that live on the grapes to be the only yeast used in the fermentation. As such, sometimes the fermentations can take over a year to complete (which is why the 2008 Pinot’s were bottled after the 2009’s). Some claim this is lunacy and that yeasts that live in the cellar are not only impossible to exclude but are necessary to complete fermentation as the saccharomyces yeasts will always be insufficient to complete the process. Nonetheless, it is clear that Mike is taking fanatical attention to detail to another level.

This attention to detail reminds me of some conversations I was lucky to have with Allen Meadows where he opined that Biodynamicists produced better wine on average more because they were obsessed with details rather than anything relating to the lunar cycle. I think this must be true with the Pyramid wines as well, because it seems to be that this obsessed with detail and perfection is precisely the reason why the Weersings have avoided all the flaws commonly associated with both biodynamic and ‘natural’ wines, for surely the Home Vineyard wines are from both camps.

Hot Damn

The Home Vineyard wines from Pyramid Valley are unequivocally the best examples of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from New Zealand, and they compete with the absolute best examples from all over the New World. These are wines with unparallelled purity and finesse and with exceptional expression, balance and length.

I tasted both the Pyramid Valley Earth Smoke Pinot Noir 2009, which poured a beautiful cloudy light red (apparently the wine wouldn’t settle and the Weersings do not fine or filter), and the Pyramid Valley Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay 2009, which I had trouble distinguishing from a top notch Corton.

The Pinot had a Burgundian elegance on the nose with spice, light berry fruits, earth and savour. The 10% whole cluster fermentation clearly added spicy and earthy elements from the stems. This is a dense, rich Pinot Noir without heavyness or alcohol (it is 13.8%). Yet this is creamy, rich and very very smooth. Possessing one of the longest finishes I’ve experienced from a New World Pinot, the Earth Smoke completes with an earthy and mineral twist that makes this the most complete Pinot I have tasted in this New Zealand Spotlight.

Ditto for the Chardonnay, which is perhaps a more classic example of pure Burgundian cool-climate Chardonnay than are the Pinot Noirs (which truly are their own entity). The Lion’s Tooth offers mineral, stone and lemon on the nose, but it does so with exceptional expression and purity. In a blind, I would put money on experienced tasters picking this as a Burgundy. I found it similar to Mikulski’s Mersaults, which is an exceptional compliment since Mikulski is one of my favourite winemakers in Burgundy.

On the palate this was very elegant and long with exceptionally pure fruit. This is more balanced in oak, alcohol and acid than many more expensive Burgundy whites. Lemon, apricot, hazlenut and long minerality round out this exciting wine, which is amongst the very best New World Chardonnays I have tasted. This is even more elegant than many many white Burgundies.

Both wines are extremely impressive and both wines deserve:

Excellent+
$70 for the Earth Smoke Pinot Noir at Marquis Wine Cellar
$65 for the Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay at Marquis Wine Cellar

Filed Under: $60+, Chardonnay, Excellent, New Zealand, New Zealand Wines, Pinot Noir

Spotlight on New Zealand: Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah 2005

July 9, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

I’ve been pretty excited about the New Zealand Syrahs I’ve tasted in this spotlight. This wine, however, has proven to be somewhat of an enigma.

A New Zealand Giant

Craggy Range is one of the bigger names in Hawke’s Bay – 200,000 cases – which is not huge by standards outside of New Zealand, but within New Zealand it is quite considerable. Founded in the late 1980’s, Craggy Range has helped bring considerable success to the Hawke’s Bay region and has since expanded all over New Zealand, with wines made from grapes grown in Marlborough to Central Otago.

The Le Sol, however, is from Craggy Range’s “prestige” range of wines that supposedly represent the absolute best of what they do and what the Hawke’s Bay can produce.

Gimblett Gravels, the Hawke’s Bay sub-region from which this Syrah sprouts, is also considered by many to be the best region for Syrah in New Zealand – an ancient river bed with sedimentary soils. It is certainly the warmest, which helps make wines made from these soils some of the densest and richest in the country.

A Confused Wine or a Confused Tasting

The Le Sol comes in two parts – pop and pour and decanted. Surprisingly, the impact of decanting on this wine proved to be in reverse to what is traditional: it became more one dimensional and monolithic and lost the aromatic complexity and fresh palate I experienced upon initial opening.

On the initial open, this offered plenty of game and pepper, pouring a very youthful deep red. I thought these aromatics were so much more interesting than any of the big boy Syrahs from the U.S. and Australia.This changed, however, with the decant as the oak took over the fruit.

The same occurred on the palate. Initially a wine with juicy blackberry, plum, pepper, a hint of game and great freshness. This had mouthwatering acidity and exceptional length, finishing with herbs, garrigue and fine tannins. Strangely, with the decant this became all oak, which dried out the fruit on the finish. I cannot understand how such an expressive, fresh and complex wine could become so simplistic and monolithic with only a couple hours of air, but this is what happened.

As such, I find this a difficult wine to rate, and I’m not sure what to make of it, though at the price I can’t recommend it over the Sacred Hill or Man O War. Nonetheless, here it is:

Very Good+ to Excellent upon Pop and Pour
Fair with a Decant
$100 at Kits Wine Cellar

Filed Under: $60+, Fair, New Zealand, New Zealand Wines, Syrah, Very Good

Champagne Day: H. Billiot Cuvee Julie

July 1, 2011 By Shea Leave a Comment

A 5 Hectare grower estate on the limestone soils of Ambonnay, H. Billiot has become one of the leading grower producers of Champagne, with his top cuvees (The Julie and Laetitia) attracting a cult following.

Do You Like a Little Oak?

Billiot traditionally ferments entirely in enameled stainless steel tanks and the wines never undergo malolactic. However, Cuvee Julie sees several months in oak casks, which assists its chardonnay and pinot noir blend by adding depth and rich complexity. I have heard the top wines compared to Krug, which may be a reasonable comparison, though these are uniquely endowed with the mature fruit of Billiot’s top Ambonnay Grand Cru vineyards. It is the quality of the fruit that prevents this wine from becoming overwhelmed by oak, which in my opinion was superbly integrated.

The Tasting Note

A Champagne composed of very ripe fruit of exceptional quality. A wine of opulent fruit, red berries, cream, a touch of brioche and a mineral tinged and extremely long finish. A wine that successfully combines density and elegance in an extremely vinous package. This is hedonistic champagne that is perfectly balanced and is ultimately an incredible wine that kills pretty much any house champagne at this price. Built both to drink now and for aging.

Excellent+
$140 at Kits Wine

Filed Under: $60+, Champagne, Excellent, French Wine

Spotlight on New Zealand: Ata Rangi Pinot Noir 2008

June 22, 2011 By Shea 3 Comments

Jake at Cherries and Clay just posted on the possibilities of aging new world Pinot Noir by looking at a 2004 Rippon Pinot from Central Otago in New Zealand. In that piece he considered how red Burgundy tends to be built for age and most new world producers have instead built their wines for immediate drinking. Nonetheless, his 2004 Rippon seemed to straddle the line between the two worlds. This got me to thinking about what New Zealand Pinot Noir was all about and what it offered to drinkers beyond immediate pleasure.

Sex or History?

This is a difficult question given that most new world Pinot has built its market off its sexy immediacy. In fact, I have a hard time looking beyond the instant pleasure that such bottles bring. Nonetheless I do think the best examples from New Zealand are starting to move into slightly different territory.

Ata Rangi is one of New Zealand’s most iconic producers of Pinot Noir. It uses one of the oldest clones in New Zealand (the abel clone), which is a Dijon clone thought to have been smuggled into New Zealand from France (reportedly, a cutting from DRC itself) in the 1970’s. Amazingly, the current existence of these clones in NZ owes a debt to Malcom Abel, friend of Clive Paton founder of Ata Rangi , who was a former customs officer who was working for the government at the time the cuttings were confiscated and managed to see their potential and preserve them.

So Ata Rangi seems to have a significant link to Burgundy and certainly and important role in the NZ wine industry. They also manage their vineyards at a high standard of biodiversity, vineyards that have never seen the use of insecticide, and other important management practices you can read about here.

Fruit, Spice and Savor

As with most Pinot Noir it is easy to get lost in the hugely immediate up front fruit with this wine. It was not until this wine had decanted for several hours that I began to appreciate the savory nuances that gave this wine its character. This is something I have noticed in the best Pinots from New Zealand, and there is a particularly unique savoriness and spiciness to the Pinots from Martinborough that distinguish the best examples from other regions in the country.

This is a wine with a fruity palate and high acidity. The fruit is darker than expected, but it retains freshness and length on the finish. This is an undoubtedly new world Pinot Noir, but a delicious one. As a classic example of a traditional well made new world Pinot, this wine is texturally very pleasing and this may be its best quality, though the up front fresh fruit is a close second. However, as mentioned earlier with air the wine completely changes. It gets very nuanced, more savory and complex and much more aromatically expressive.

There does seem to be some heat on the finish that I would like to see disappear, and I suspect it will with time. That seems to be a common theme with many NZ pinot noirs. They have such great up front fruit, good acidity and balance until the finish on which you can detect the alcohol, even in many of the finest examples from top wineries.

I have no problem with New Zealand wineries embracing the new world style, though I still think they are going through some growing pains with the Pinot. There is a bit of an identity crisis – what distinguishes these wines from California, Oregon, or Australia? There are subtle nuanced distinctions in fruit and spice, alcohol and acid, but stylistically almost all of the Pinots from these regions go for the same thing: sexy fruit. I’m down with sexy. But I do see the potential for a far more intellectual journey. The terroir is there in the making. All that is needed is the vision (which wineries like Ata Rangi have been instrumental in developing), and a few hundred years.

Very Good+
$68 at Everything Wine

Filed Under: $60+, New Zealand, New Zealand Wines, Pinot Noir, Very Good