Central Otago, New Zealand
Tasted Monday, December 20, 2010 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 by kingkanu with 1,005 views
Me and Steph head off for a couple of days tasting in Central Otago - Pinot Noir country !
In general we found the 2008 Pinot's to be a little green at the edges and the 2007 and 2009's far riper, there were a couple of exceptions to this rule with Chard Farm, Amisfield and Felton Road all making excellent 2008's. All the wineries said that over the past decade the odd number years were better than the even number years, 2004 was to be avoided by the sounds of it...
Most wineries were working with quite young vines still, with first vintages coming around the 2000-2004 time period, again there were a few exceptions to this and the wines from the older vines at Rippon in particular were noticeably more concentrated.
The first Bald Hills vintage was 2002 and they had a very few bottles left, it wasn't for tasting, but we took one as a piece of their history
we also had lunch here, i had a glass of the off dry 2009 Riesling with scallops and a green summer rissotto, Steph had the Chardonnay with a goats cheese and aubergine stack - yummy !
This was the final stop of the day, our palates were a little jaded by now and we had a cheese plate with a selection of their wines, the notes didn't amount to anything much so i haven't posted them.
We tried their 2008 and 2009 Pinot Noirs, again the 2008 was a touch green, but decent and the 2009 better and riper, we also tried the 2008 Pinot Noir reserve which was decent again, then 2 single vineyard (i think) wines, the 2009 China Terrace Pinot Noir and the 2009 Le Maitre Pinot Noir which were both very good indeed
We were very impressed by the wines here but only tried the pinot noir flight as i was driving, they also has a beautiful looking restaurant
Its worth making the trip up a winding track to go here, they also make 2 single vineyard Pinots which weren't for tasting and were for long term cellaring which are worth hunting down, The Tiger and The Viper (i think 1 of these was available at Auckland airport)
A great spot for lunch up on the mountain looking down the valley
In Cromwell town, they are Pinot Noir specialists and a winery to watch, their 2007 won a ton of awards
Set apart from the rest of the regions producers but well worth the trip, they have some of the oldest vines in the region and a beautiful spot over looking Lake Wanaka
I'd recommend anyone who can make the trip to New Zealand to check this region out, its a really easy couple of days to get to a ton of great wineries and the scenery is pretty great too, it does get really hot here in summer and really cold in winter, so pack accordingly and you'll have a great time !
2009 Felton Road Chardonnay Elms
New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago
(12/20/2010)
Unoaked. Crisp, citrus and minerally, just what it should be. Good length
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2010 Felton Road Dry Riesling
New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago
(12/20/2010)
3g/L residual sugar. Fresh limes and citrus on the nose and palate, really well defined fruit, great acidity making this really refreshing, very long, another great year for this Riesling
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2009 Felton Road Pinot Noir Bannockburn
New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Bannockburn
(12/20/2010)
Lovely concentrated ripe dark fruit, dark cherries with a little earthiness, nice acidity. very good
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2009 Felton Road Pinot Noir Cornish Point
New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago
(12/20/2010)
deeper and fuller than the Bannockburn, mocha and cola on the nose and a little more savoury flavour on the palate with good ripe dark cherry fruit, long and spicy on the finish. very good+
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2009 Felton Road Pinot Noir Calvert
New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago
(12/20/2010)
This wine had more obvious fruit on the nose than the Cornish Point or Bannockburn pinots, quite a linear palate with a touch of earth, this reminded me of a young Vosne with a its silky mouthfeel, personally i think this is the 'wife' to Cornish Points 'Mistress' ! very good+
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2010 Felton Road Riesling Bannockburn
New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Bannockburn
(12/20/2010)
56g/L residual sugar. quite a floral and expressive nose, apricots and mandarins with pleasing acidity, maybe a little on the sweet side for me, but a lovely wine
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