Tasting Notes - New Zealand

2006 Amisfield Pinot Noir

Drunk the other night with tuna salad nicoise, this was a relatively simple wine, with good strawberry and raspberry flavours, plus a hint of cherry in the zesty acidity. There is a certain amoutn of tannic grip too, and this with the acidity and reasponably strong fruit makes me thinkt hat you could keep it for a few years. I'm not sure really how it will develop though, as Kiwi PNs don't have a reputation for being able to age successfully, and there aren't any signs of tertiary flavours at all, but we will see. I hope that as the vines gain in age, that they will start to produce more complex wines with greater ageing potential - I do hope so, because I love the NZ wine-making philosophy.

2005 Ata Rangi Chardonnay

Coming from one of New Zealand's top producers I had high hopes for this wine, but unfortunately I have been disappointed. According to the notes on their website, they claim that it has peach and pear aromas with barely-noticeable, well-integrated oak. Well sadly this is not the case, the fruit has faded, leaving very prominent oak and not much else, except a kind of nondescript minerality where the fruit used to be (if it ever existed...) The website also states that it can be cellared until 2009, which seems to be surprisingly short to me give the producer, and the levels of acidity (though they were obviously correct) - maybe there was never really the intensity of flavour that I would have expected from them. It is pretty one-dimensional, lacks depth and is disappointing unfortunately. I have one more bottle left, so I am hoping that this is a one off. I will update when I've drunk the second one. (03/10)

The second bottle: better balanced, more fruit flavours, but still not very exciting, I am sad to say. Still pretty one dimensional and uninspiring. (04/10)

2003 Greenhough, Hope Vineyard Pinot Noir

I am hoping that it is suffering from 'transport shock', because this was a splendid wine when I last tasted it around a year ago. Yesterday, though, it smelled and tasted like a nasty Californian Pinot: a flabby fruit-bomb. The previously velvety texture had transformed into nothing more than a lifeless glass of what resembled Ribena. Bollocks. Maybe it was just a bad bottle, I really hope so, because I have always been a champion of the Kiwi Pinot scene, and of this winery, and I don't want to be let down..(01/10)

1999 Felton Road Pinot Noir

Hmmm - Stale nose, barnyard (the bad kind) with a distinct whiff of the medicinal, unpleasant - flat fruit, high acidity and apparently typical for the year at this age, surprising and disappointing - oh dear.