Wine writer Mark Henderson heads north for his latest taste tests of pinot noir.
This week's tasting took us away from Central Otago, with wines from Marlborough and Martinborough featuring.
A number of the labels are made in decent volumes, will be widely available, and can often be picked up for prices well south of the listed prices.
High prices can be a criticism levelled at pinot noir (sometimes unjustly), but lower-priced offerings are both proliferating and upping their game in terms of drinkability.
Sub $20 pinot noir used to be like dipping your toes into shark-infested waters: the wine came with a bite, but times have certainly changed.
Alastair McLaren and Ricky Collins assisted with this blind tasting.
2014 Babich Marlborough
Price: $25
Rating: Good
Shy nose with underlying dark fruits and dustiness. Sweet fruit entry with a touch of confection leads to savoury hints and lead pencil. Brooding and quite weighty with charry oak and leaf elements coming to the fore. Good acidity lends freshness here.
2014 Stoneleigh Wild Valley Limited Release
Price: $19
Rating: Good
Fragrant and perfumed nose with forest floor notes and a lick of oak: rather attractive. Quite fine in the mouth with nice tannic grip. Cranberry and plum with hints of black tea. Mushrooms, good persistence and rather tasty and stylish. This tightened up with aeration rather a lot.
2013 Craggy RangeTe Muna Road
Price: $40
Rating: Very good to excellent
Bright, lifted nose with strawberry/raspberry fruits. Quite a fruit-driven style with dried herbs and some stalk/leaf notes. Rather attractive nose. Raspberry and plum on the silky palate; charry oak became quite noticeable with time. This opened up a lot with aeration. Rather appealing.
2014 Brancott Estate 'T' Marlborough
Price: $33
Rating: Good
Some talc on the nose; at first quite shy but clearly varietal. Sweet fruit palate with raspberries and a brambly note: nice texture here, and developing charry notes. Very front palate and fruit-driven without showing huge complexity, though this picks up weight and interest with time in the glass.
2014 Tohu Awatere Valley Marlborough
Price: $28
Rating: Excellent
Sweetly perfumed with ripe rhubarb and cherry and a touch of vanillin oak. Nicely balanced palate: good fruit intensity, red fruits giving way to earthy notes and quite a lot of interest here. The finish is very appealing with good persistence.
2013 Mission Estate Martinborough
Price: $16.50
Rating: Good
A wine that speaks of vinosity rather than being a fruit statement. Fragrant nose with leather and savoury elements. Drier, earthier and with some stalk influence: a wine already showing evolution. Wet stone and dried herbs. Understated: more a food wine that needs drinking now. A touch of astringency to close.
