Top-of-the line Pinot due for release in February 2010

Seresin winemaker, Clive Dougall, dropped by with an armful of soon-to-be-released Pinots that impressed. The fruit comes from three vineyards; Home (on a terrace below the winery), Tatou (5 Kms from the winery on stony plains) and the flagship hillside vineyard, Raupo, in the Omaka Valley on clay-rich soils.

We kicked off with a white wine, Chiaroscura 2007 $65. It’s an unusual blend of three varieties; Chardonnay 40%, Pinot Gris 40%, Riesling 15% and Pinot Meunier 5%. Clive explained that they hold the juice of the earlier varieties under refrigeration until all of the grapes have been picked then blend and co-ferment in barrel before the wine spends 17 months in oak on the yeast lees. It’s more about a rich mouth-filling texture than taste with attractive but rather muted fruit flavours that get a little mixed up with yeast aultolysis and subtle oak characters. An intriguing wine that clearly demands to be enjoyed with food. I liked it, awarding 93 points on the day although I’d like to taste it again blind. (Not officially reviewed because a winemaker was whispering sweet nothings in my ear). Only 30 cases made. Not made in 2008 “the fruit wasn’t good enough” but a similar blend was made this year without the Riesling.

Leah Pinot Noir 2007 $35     This is Seresin’s “commercial” Pinot Noir if you can call a biodynamically grown, hand-made red commercial. All Seresin’s Pinot’s are made using the same winemaking techniques with the vineyards making the difference. Elegant, spicy, supple wine with red cherry and wild herb flavours. Pretty good now but will probably shake off a little adolescent akwardness in another year or so.

Raupo Creek 2007 Pinot Noir $50    (400 cases mostly sold from cellar door). Fleshier, richer and riper than Leah with a much richer texture. This is a class act with fragrant cherry and floral aromas plus savoury, earthy nuacnces.

Home Vineyard 2007 Pinot Noir $50    (50 cases only) Smooth, silky wine with less herb character and generally riper flavours. Integrated, lengthy, fragrant and surprisingly accessible. I liked it very much.

Tatou 2007 Pinot Noir $50     (50 cases) A big, chunky and grainy-textured wine with firm, ripe tannins. Classy red but not hugely Pinot Noir-like.

Rachel 2007 Pinot Noir $55     Made from grapes grown in the flagship vineyard – a blend of three hillside sections. Impressively sweet fruit, very concentrated, supple, and attractive. It has a Musigny-like texture which is high praise indeed. Worth the extra $5 in my view.

Sun & Moon 2007 Pinot Noir $120    (71 cases, to be released in February 2010). From grapes grown on the highest part of the hillside vineyard plus 20% of the Home vineyard. Great weight and concentration with more complexity than Rachel. Impressive length and layers of “peacock’s tail” flavours on the finish.

Clive left me a full glass of Sun & Moon with instructions to “taste it in a couple of hours”. Unfortunately Marion tipped the contents down the sink when she was cleaning up after us. Damn!!

They say it will age ... but will it?

A chance remark resulted in an extensive tasting of 41 examples of Central Otago Pinot Noir from 2003 or earlier. The objective of the tasting … to determine whether we should drink Central Otago Pinot Noir now or later.

When the question of ageworthiness was raised, Ruenell Rapoza, marketing and events co-ordinator of Central Otago Pinot Noir Ltd (COPL), swung into action. Member wineries were contacted and invited to send Pinot Noir from 2003 or earlier to me for a tasting that might determine just how well these wines age.

Wineries that sent samples were: Akarua, Amisfield, Carrick, Chard Farm, Desert Heart, Felton Road, Mount Edward, Mt Difficulty, Olssens, Peregrine, Pisa Range Estate, Quartz Reef, Rippon and Two Paddocks. 13 wineries sounds like a good turnout although my database reveals a further 20 wineries made wine from 2003 or before. They may not have had stocks to share or perhaps they were not members of COPL (two no longer exist).

Why is ageability an issue? Central Otago Pinot Noir is often so drop-dead delicious when it’s released why not just drink it? Ageing is an issue because it ADDS VALUE. Central Otago is already a probationary member of the Pinot Noir Big Boys Club. To gain full membership it must demonstrate that its wines improve with age. Not just hang-on-in-there with age, but improve.

Check out the president of the Pinot Noir Big Boys Club – Burgundy. Grand Cru burgundy of stature is parctically undrinkable when first released. It’s expected to be cellared for at least 10-15 years by when it will be mellow and (with luck) very complex. Would anyone shell out $1000 for a bottle of La Tache if it was best enjoyed two years after vintage? Even Premier Cru burgundy undergoes a metamorphosis from ugly egg to beautiful butterfly. Village burgundy is best enjoyed within a few years of release – but most of it cowers well under the $50 price point.

The tasting was complicated by vintage variation, a transition to screwcaps in 2001 or 2002 and, I guess, vine age plus the expected evolution in vineyard and winery that tends to create a lumpy playing field. Cutting to the chase, here are my conclusions from the tasting:

• 2002 was such a good vintage generally that it frequently emerged as the best wine in a single winery vertical. In general terms Pinot from the 2002 vintage are ageing well depite predictions that they would become over-blown and be short-lived.
• 14 out of the 41 wines were sealed with a cork. None were corked although two wines had a noticable woody cork flavour that did them no good. The two oldest wines in the tasting, both from 1999 and under cork, looked very good. I believe that both had improved significantly since they were released.
• Many wines that had seductive fruit flavours and were deliciously drinkable on release (Akarua 2002 is an example) still looked good although they hadn’t gained much benefit from bottle age.
• Felton Road “Block” wines that are (in my opinion) often over-shaddowed by the winery’s regular label upon first release seem to have outstripped the less expensive wine with bottle age. They showed very good bottle development. Conversely, I regard the recently tasted Felton Road 2007 Block 5 Pinot Noir as the best New Zealand Pinot Noir I have ever tasted. Will it get even better. You bet!

Finally … not all Central Otago Pinots are equal. Some deliciously fruity wines will never be much more than that – deliciously fruity and seem destined to decline in quality (quality = fruit) with bottle age. Others did seem to improve markedly with bottle age (Felton Block 3 & 5 are examples). I wonder whether the increasing use of stems during fermentation, in vintages that allow it, will add an extra dimension of complexity? More work needs to be done and winemakers who wish to build ageing potential into their wines need to keep a close eye on those who are already able to build wines with a future.

Tasting notes, with scores, are on my website database.

Winemaker Matt Dicey talks about vintage conditions

I have never been a great fan of Mt Difficulty’s standard Pinot Noir. On the other hand I’m a huge fan of their single vineyard wines. So when I receieved an invite to taste a decade of Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir it was an opportunity to see whether I’d judged their wines too harshly simply because they were young.

It was an informal tasting at Auckland’s Grove restaurant followed by lunch. I destest people who hog spittoons. Tasting etiquette demands that you taste, step forward, spit, then step backwards to leave room for others. My technique for getting the message across to spittoon hogs is to spit from a great height, splashing those within a 250ml radius. They soon get the message, especially if they’re wearing white.

Here are my scores and brief comments for each vintage with previous scores in parenthesis:

2007 Pinot Noir 93 (no earlier tasting records) – Totally charming wine with attractive floral, spice and ripe cherry flavours.

2006 Pinot Noir 88 (90) – lifted cherry aromas, tighter and more savoury than the 07 with good length. A suspicion of sulphide (not noted when tasted at an earlier date). A wine for the future perhaps?

2005 Pinot Noir 89 (93) – Similar in style to the 06 but showing more development (naturally). Once again a rather tight and slightly bony wine with a suspicion of sulphide that forces me to reduce my previous score.

2004 Pinot Noir 78 (80) – Light aroma, slightly floral but with green tannins and some herbal flavours. Lacks ripeness. Too austere.

2003 Pinot Noir 86 (85) – Tight wine with weight and power. This is a sleeper that should strut its stuff in another year or two. Quite complex, drying tannins.

2002 Pinot Noir 93 (93) – Plump, fleshy wine – an elegant fruit bomb. Sleek Pinot Noir that’s in great drinking form right now.

2001 Pinot Noir 79 (no earlier tasting records) – First year under screwcap. Austere, savoury, slightly green and a tad hard.

2000 Pinot Noir 90 (no earlier tasting records) – Lovely lifted cherry flavours with an appealing savoury influence. Supple and in good form now. Light but elegant wine with very attractive flavours.

1999 Pinot Noir 75 (85) – Well past its best. Bitter, oxidised.

1998 Pinot Noir 88 (85) – Quite developed but in lovely condition. The texture is beginning to dry out but the wine is still a lovely drink.

Conclusion: Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir ages well (the 99 excepted) and is on an exciting growth path in quality terms. The 07 is a terrific wine. I expect the 08 to be even better (If Matt Dicey’s comments can be relied upon).