Congratulations to Alexandra’s McArthur Ridge wines for their 2022 Southern Tor Pinot Noir, which has just taken out one of the highly coveted Best in Show Awards at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London. To put this into context, the panel of 243 leading wine experts, including 20 master sommeliers and 61 masters of wine from 33 countries, blind-tasted 18,143 wines from 57 countries, resulting in: 50 Best in Show, 117 Platinum, 643 Gold, 5977 Silver, and 8016 Bronze medals. Against pinot noirs from across the world, McArthur Ridge has come out on top and it was an Australasian trifecta with pinot noirs from Lowestoft and Bay of Fires in Tasmania joining the Southern Tor in the 50 Best in Show List. After their 2022 McArthur Ridge Brassknocker Pinot Noir took out the trophy for Best NZ Pinot Noir at the International Wine Challenge in London recently, that’s double validation for the team: I’m sure they are grinning from ear to ear! New wine tasting facility opens in Tarras Exciting news for wine enthusiasts heading to Central with the opening of the new Bendigo Wine Cellar in the Tarras Village redevelopment. The brainchild of Christina and Callum Grant of Bendigo Station, the Bendigo Wine Cellar joins luxury knitwear brand Perriam’s HQ, and the recently renovated Tarras Village Country Store & Café in the Tarras Village complex. Open from Monday to Saturday, the cellar offers both tasting and purchase options from vineyards on the hills of Bendigo Station including Peregrine, Quartz Reef, their own Bendigo Station Vineyard, alongside local craft beers from Rhyme and Reason, Ground Up and B Effect. There are plans for more food options later in the year including an outdoor laneway for the summer season. Yet another good reason to make the pilgrimage to Central Otago. 2021 Gibbston Valley GV Collection Central Otago Pinot Noir Price $49 Rating Excellent A sense of volume on the nose, savoury/ umami aspects, spices, perhaps a touch of graphite, fruit neatly in support. The palate is still relatively taut, riffing on red fruits, black olive, a wisp of salinity perhaps, making this cool in the mouth, flows to a dry, chalk-inflected finish. Opens up enormously with air, nose and palate transformed, give this some air and reap rewards. www.gibbstonvalley.com 2021 Dicey Bannockburn Pinot Noir Price RRP $46 Rating Excellent Cracking nose here, gorgeous florality, red and dark fruits, savoury aspects, smoke and oak spices later. Very engaging. Nice, silky entry, a feeling of richness yet balance, plush and mouthfilling. Youthful for sure, but great integration. Calling it "crowd pleasing" feels like damning it with faint praise but there’s a generosity and voluptuousness that makes this so easy to enjoy. www.dicey.nz 2021 Mount Edward Central Otago Pinot Noir Price RRP $55 Rating Excellent to Outstanding Beguiling nose, savoury, tilled earth, more about the complexity though the fruit is definitely there, under-the- hood quiet fragrance evolving. There’s a seriousness here, dry, powerful yet integrated tannins, subtlety to this but so much more under the surface. Quietly compelling and certainly enjoyable now but there’s clear potential here too. www.mountedward.com
