Central Otago Wine Trip December 2010

Central Otago, New Zealand
Tasted Monday, December 20, 2010 - Thursday, December 23, 2010 by kingkanu with 1,005 views

Introduction

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.

Flight 1 - Felton Road - Private Tour - Pinot Thyme Wine Tours (6 Notes)

  • 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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Flight 2 - Olssens Winery - Private Tour - Pinot Thyme Wine Tours (4 Notes)

Flight 3 - Bald Hills Winery - Private Tour - Pinot Thyme Wine Tours (6 Notes)

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

Flight 4 - Carrick - Private Tour - Pinot Thyme Wine Tours (7 Notes)

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 !

  • 2010 Carrick Riesling

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/20/2010)

    6g/L residual sugar. Light citrus and apple nose, full and soft in the mouth with extremely crisp acidity

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  • 2009 Carrick Riesling

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/20/2010)

    25g/L residual sugar. Honeysuckle and petrol nose, very nicely balanced acidity and full in the mouth

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  • 2010 Carrick Riesling Josephine Sweet

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/20/2010)

    60g/L residual sugar. 8% alcohol. Nice floral nose, light and elegant with hints of pineapple, fresh with a medium long finish, delicious !

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  • 2010 Carrick Pinot Gris

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/20/2010)

    4.5g/L residual sugar. Pears on the nose, pear drops and red apples on the palate, but lacking a little depth on the mid and end palate

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  • 2008 Carrick Chardonnay

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/20/2010)

    only 15% new oak and 11 months in the barrel, but you can really taste this with yeasty lees coming through on the nose, butterscotch, butter and a little pineapple on the palate, not really my style of Chardonnay, but not a new world bruiser either

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  • 2007 Carrick Pinot Noir

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Bannockburn

    (12/20/2010)

    14 months in the barrel 30% new oak. Full cherry nose, a deep cherry flavour with a little cola and some spice, quite long, possibly lacking a little depth of flavour, but good ripe and concentrated fruit

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  • 2006 Carrick Pinot Noir Excelsior

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/20/2010)

    Deep spicy cherry fruit and cola nose, a very long spicy palate, lots of concentrated fruit, still very tight but drinkable now, will take sone time to unwind and show its class, very good+ wish I had picked some of this up

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Flight 5 - Peregrine Winery - Private Tour - Pinot Thyme Wine Tours (8 Notes)

Flight 6 - Gibbston Valley Winery - Private Tour - Pinot Thyme Wine Tours

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

Flight 7 - A gift from Pinot Thyme Wine Tours, who made the wine (1 Note)

  • 2009 White Ashes Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir Bannockburn 87 Points

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Bannockburn

    (12/20/2010)

    Made in an early drinking style, cherry and raspberry nose, a god sweet mouthful of fruit, morello cherries in the main, balanced acidity, fresh, clean and crisp, good finish.
    Given to us by the winemaker who also runs tours in the Otago area (shameless plug here: www.pinotthymetours.co.nz)

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Flight 8 - Amisfield Winery (4 Notes)

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

  • 2008 Lake Hayes Pinot Noir

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/21/2010)

    Warm summer fruits on the nose, full dark cherry fruit and plums showing on the palate, a touch of the 2008 green edge showing here

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  • 2008 Amisfield Pinot Noir

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/21/2010)

    Sweet cherry fruit on the nose, more ripe cherries and plums on the palate, this 2008 is full ripe with no signs of greenness, good concentration and length

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  • 2007 Amisfield Pinot Noir

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/21/2010)

    Very full aromatic nose with plenty going on alongside the dark cherry fruit, very concentrated juice with a savoury edge to the plums and cherries, good length, really quite long, really good. probably my favourite main label Pinot of the trip.

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  • 2006 Amisfield Pinot Noir Rocky Knoll

    New Zealand, South Island, Otago, Central Otago

    (12/21/2010)

    Made from only the 3 Dijon clones grown at amisfield. This has a lovely classic burgundy nose, getting a bit of bottle age now, full and concentrated, lovely mouthfeel, the palate is relatively linear, but it was so well defined that it didn't matter, ready now, but will keep for at least another 5 years, excellent.

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Flight 9 - Chard Farm Winery (8 Notes)

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)

Flight 10 - Mount Difficulty Winery (6 Notes)

A great spot for lunch up on the mountain looking down the valley

Flight 11 - Wooing Tree Winery (8 Notes)

In Cromwell town, they are Pinot Noir specialists and a winery to watch, their 2007 won a ton of awards

Flight 12 - Rippon Winery (7 Notes)

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

Closing

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 !

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