Fasten Your Seatbelts for Stellar New Zealand Pinot Noirs

If you liked New Zealand for her Sauvignon Blancs, get ready to fall in love with her Pinot Noirs.

The New Zealand Consulate hosted a fantastic Pinot Noir seminar highlighting New Zealand's regional diversity, and showcasing some incredible wines, most in the $35 range. David Scholefield, Senior Buyer at the BCLDB, and Winemaker Allan Scott, were our tour guides. As it turns out, New Zealand is prime Pinot Noir terrior, because narrowness of the islands means you're never more than 80km from the sea, which is great for heat hating Pinot Noir. This should give you an idea of why parts of Vancouver Island are considered better for Pinot Noir than the Okanagan.

Scholefield was given samples of the wines to try over the weekend, and put them to the test. He believes that "the ability to take abuse is the hallmark of a good wine," and so he opened them on Friday, and left them out on the window sill to see how they held up. They did, keeping the integrity of their fruit, and even intensifying. As good as these are to drink now, he predicts that they have great potential for aging, noting that they are so well balanced and drinkable now that most people could overlook this.

He also noted the ephemeral quality of these wines, saying that as soon as you identify a characteristic it's gone, and replaced with something else. These wines are very much alive, and evolved even over the course of our two hour tasting. Many were quite closed on the nose before vigorous swirling awakened their flavours. If you buy any of these for home try decanting them an hour or two before you serve them.

Here's what we tried, and my notes. These are showcase wines, so it's not shocking that I enjoyed all of them. They are all good value, especially when compared with France, with those under $40 offering particularly fine bang for your buck. If you step up to a $50 bottle you won't be disappointed, but after your first glass go back an hour or two later to see how it's changed. Have a look through the notes, and see which descriptions most appeal to you, and then I hope you will take the time to seek them out at your favourite private wine shop. I certainly will be on the hunt for these. The Wine Spectator recently gave a number of New Zealand Pinots 90+ ratings, so they are about to become scarce and more expensive, so be quick.

Allan Scott, Pinot Noir, 2005, Marlborough region $32
- Red cherry colour with a tinge of plum. Lots of fruit flavours of raspberry jam and plum, with just a hint of spice and wood. Balanced tannins with a long peppery, cherry finish. Scholefield said this grew even fruitier after being open for four days.

Pegasus Bay (Peg Bay for short), Pinot Noir, 2004, Waipara region $50
- Red cherry colour, with much less fruit on the nose than that Allan Scott. Instead there's more oak, vanilla, strawberry, and nutmeg making this a complex wine with a long finish. Scholefield said that after four days this transformed into full fruit and berries. Going back to this after another 2 hours its transformative powers were already evident in that it gave off a warm campfire smokiness.

Waimea, Pinot Noir, 2005, Nelson region $30
- Dark red cherry colour, with spearmint on the nose. Earth, mineral, and strawberry.

Gravitas, Pinot Noir, 2005, Marlborough region $33
- Sandalwood jumped out at me right away. This one really opened up after swirling, presenting vanilla, cranberry and a bit of pepper. Firm, balanced tannins. This is one of the two wines today sealed with natural cork, and after four days was slightly oxidized, though still enjoyable according to Scholefield.

Quartz Reef, Pinot Noir, Central Otago region $38
- This is the darkest wine we tried today, showing a black cherry colour that's quite dark for a Pinot. Consequently, the big fruit isn't a surprise. It's gamey and earthy, with pepper and wood, yet has a very floral nose. A lot of complexity for $38, Scholefield said this wine has everything he loves about Pinot Noir - high praise from the man who picks the wines sold in BC.

Palliser Estate, Pinot Noir, 2005, Marlborough region $34.50
- I absolutely loved the exotic spices of this wine. Right away I got dry sandalwood, and then tasted cloves and a hint of orange zest. Wow! I'm going to Marquis and Liberty tomorrow to look for this one.

Carrick, Pinot Noir, 2003, Central Otago region $54
- This region is very rocky, and thyme grows wild throughout it. It's not native to the area; it was planted by Chinese workers, and has taken over to the extent that you can smell it everywhere. A great Pinot Noir is a reflection of its terroir, or the earth and area it was grown in, and you can taste the thyme in this wine. It's also jammy with great fruit, balanced tannins, vanilla, and a long finish.

Te Kairanga Reserve, Pinot Noir, 2003, Marlborough region $50
- This is a spicy, earthy wine. I thought this wine showed just a tinge of brick age on its outer edge, but it still had some fruit left. This is the other wine sealed with real cork, which may explain the aged characteristics.