Pinot envy
Claudine Earley27/01/2010 11:50:00 a.m.
PINOTPHILES, it’s time to start saving your pennies.
Pinot Noir 2010 is just a few days away. Mark February 1-4 in your diaries.
One hundred wineries strut their stuff, along with guest speakers from around the world, addressing themes of regionality and sustainability, with plenty of tastings to illustrate their points.
Wellington celebrates the grape from Burgundy annually with wine tastings, feasts and celebrity speakers. Programme highlights include the Winemaker’s Party on the opening night, a tasting of the 2003 vintage, now at peak maturity, and an experiment to test the theory that sustainable viticultural practices have a postive effect on a wine’s character.
Here are a couple to look out for at the first tasting, an exploration of regional expressions of the 2007 vintage. From the Hawkes Bay Lime Rock White Knuckle Hill 2007 Pinot Noir ($39.50) is named after the colour winemaker Rodger’s hands turn when he takes the tractor up this particularly precipitous slope. No need for white knuckles when you drink it though. The wine shows coffee and cherry balanced by aromas from the terroir: lime chalk and herb open up to blackcurrent and lanolin. Like dipping a lamb in ribena. Cherry flavours are mouthfilling, with redcurrent at the end on a nice dry finish. Creamy malo creates a soft texture, backed by supple tannins.
Wine of the week: Martinborough wine Vynfields Reserve Pinot Noir 2007 ($49) is proud to be certified organic and a multiple-award winner. The bouquet reflects the complexity of the wine, with its layers of fruit and savoury characters: sweet cherry and cinnamon carnations, with chocolate underneath, and bready savoury roast lamb skin on the side. In the mouth, ripe cherries tail off into a long toffee finish.
Pinot Noir 2010 is just a few days away. Mark February 1-4 in your diaries.
One hundred wineries strut their stuff, along with guest speakers from around the world, addressing themes of regionality and sustainability, with plenty of tastings to illustrate their points.
Wellington celebrates the grape from Burgundy annually with wine tastings, feasts and celebrity speakers. Programme highlights include the Winemaker’s Party on the opening night, a tasting of the 2003 vintage, now at peak maturity, and an experiment to test the theory that sustainable viticultural practices have a postive effect on a wine’s character.
Here are a couple to look out for at the first tasting, an exploration of regional expressions of the 2007 vintage. From the Hawkes Bay Lime Rock White Knuckle Hill 2007 Pinot Noir ($39.50) is named after the colour winemaker Rodger’s hands turn when he takes the tractor up this particularly precipitous slope. No need for white knuckles when you drink it though. The wine shows coffee and cherry balanced by aromas from the terroir: lime chalk and herb open up to blackcurrent and lanolin. Like dipping a lamb in ribena. Cherry flavours are mouthfilling, with redcurrent at the end on a nice dry finish. Creamy malo creates a soft texture, backed by supple tannins.
Wine of the week: Martinborough wine Vynfields Reserve Pinot Noir 2007 ($49) is proud to be certified organic and a multiple-award winner. The bouquet reflects the complexity of the wine, with its layers of fruit and savoury characters: sweet cherry and cinnamon carnations, with chocolate underneath, and bready savoury roast lamb skin on the side. In the mouth, ripe cherries tail off into a long toffee finish.
