Peregrine Pinot Noir 2010, Central Otago

Wandering round through different styles of wine is always fun. I tasted Peregrine at an Old and New World tasting of Pinot Noir, highlighting the differences between the two styles, with the general rule being that Old World PNs tend to be more savoury and New World PNs tend to be fruitier.

Nose: There's a slightly musty nose here. Perhaps a hint of mushroom or tobacco coming in to slightly overpower a hint of fresh cherry. Oddly enough, there's a touch of cedarwood and then some pepper near the end. This is a much more savoury Pinot Noir than I was expecting - on first impression I had this down as a Burgundy, and a good one at that.

Palate: I'm afraid to say it was rather bitter. There was none of the rich fruit backed by spice that I was expecting. There's cherry, but it tastes like unripe cherry - it's sharp and yet musty at the same time. Pepper is present throughout but there's an unpleasant chalkiness to the wine. While I have since read reviews saying this flavour was an example of good minerality, to me it wasn't minerality in the classic sense - it was chalky and mouth-drying, and added little to the wine. Perhaps if I'm being optimistic I might be able to find some raspberry, but I'm not entirely sure that I actually tasted it or if it was simply wishful thinking looking for something to like.

Body: Surprisingly for a Pinot Noir this felt remarkably tannic. The sharp furriness coming from the musty unripe cherry added to this sensation and made for a not very pleasant drink.

Finish: Almost no finish. This was extremely short and very one-dimensional.

Conclusion: When the cover was taken off I was deeply disappointed to find a wine so highly regarded had disappointed me so much. At £25, it's not cheap either. Perhaps I ought to have left it open for longer, but even after 2 hours I don't recall noting any positive changes. My only note from the later tasting is 'The nose is the only redeeming factor'. What a shame

Points: 70. Not a fan. I shall have to re-taste to confirm this opinion at some point, but when there are so many better Kiwi Pinot Noirs out there, why waste the time and money on this? The vastly superior Kota Lime Rock (which I will review in due course) blasted this out of the water for a perfect mix of savouriness and fruitiness.

Te Mata Cape Crest Sauvignon Black 2010

Whilst I was going through a bit of a Kiwi Sauv Blanc phase, notably covering Saint Clair Pioneer Block 3, I stumbled across the highly original concept of an oaked Sauvingnon Blanc. Being a fan of both oaked whites and Sauvignon Blanc, I thought this might be worth a go.

Te Mata's SB is barrel fermented with an addition of a touch of Sauvignon Gris and Semillon in order to give a bit of balance and introduce some more complementary flavours. The result, I am assured, is that this wine is not far off a mix of Bordeaux Blanc and Kiwi SB. Having rarely tried top Bordeaux Blanc I'm not qualified to comment on that, but it certainly was nice.

Colour: Funnily enough, despite the oaking, this was almost clear but with a slight tinge of green. So far, so Sauvignon Blanc.

Nose: Ah, well the similarity ended there. With aromas of peach, apricot, honey, vanilla and citrus, one might be forgiven for thinking that this smelled like a typical Chardonnay. The raciness of the citrus made a nice balance, effectively replacing the 'minerality' one might expect from a Chardonnay.

Palate: Stone fruit - peach and apricot again - backed by vanilla with a twinge of green apple and citrussy zestiness, reminding us that this is an oaked SB, not a Chardonnay. A nice dollop of honey to round things off. There's a smooth and creamy texture to this with a sweet but light hint of Spring to it (sorry for the utterly obtuse note there. Perhaps blossom might serve better?)

Body: This is as full-bodied a SB as anyone is likely to try with a smooth texture which ends a touch abruptly with a zing of sharp citrus and acidity.

Finish: Medium length, and finishes a little sour with an almost coffee-like sourness (the taste following a big swig of black filter coffee). Not entirely pleasant, but not wholly unpleasant either.

Conclusion: An interesting experiment that was put up against the more illustrious (or at the very least the more famous) Cloudy Bay Te Koko and which stood up well. In time it developed stronger flavours but was perhaps a little less balanced that one would have hoped and the finish let it down a little. That being said, an interesting wine and certainly one to try next to an unoaked SB (Saint Clair Pioneer Block 3 would give an almost comical contrast) and an oaked Chardonnay (you can't go wrong with Ataraxia).

Points: Hard to rate a wine like this. Tasty and interesting, but a touch unbalanced with a slightly disappointing finish, meaning I can't really give it more than 87. I'm tempted to go down to 86.

Cloudy Bay Riesling 2007

Riesling. I'm not really a fan if I'm honest. I tend to find the petrol/oil smells overpowering and the fruit a touch too sickly, but I'm never one to write off a grape just because I don't tend to like it. Everything has its time and place, it's just that I can't seem to find the time to place Riesling...

I tasted Cloudy Bay's 2007 Riesling out of an enomatic machine at Majestic and thought that it was rather good, so on a whim I bought a few different bottles and decided to give them a go. Whilst 2 of the bottles confirmed my opinions by ticking the 'over sweet' box a touch too often, Cloudy Bay (and another Kiwi wine, Main Divide) was remarkably tasty, although at a price of £20-25 a bottle, one might expect it to beat the socks of the £9 standard Rieslings...

Nose: Rubber tyres, with an almost peaty undertone that really assaults the nostrils. Oily and nose-coating with a somewhat unappealing hint of what I could only describe as 'sweat'. A touch of dried apricot underneath. Not exactly appealing, but I suppose that's Riesling for you.

Palate: Light, sweet and peachy. Very nice indeed. Honey, canteloupe melon, lemon and something that tasted a bit like lavender. Certainly sugary, but not overpoweringly so. It's rather nicely balanced, too. It began to lose the over-sweetness in time and evolved into a more rounded taste, with a good balance of savoury and sweet. Hints of citrus come through with more tropical fruit.

Body: Smooth and pleasantly mouth-filling.

Finish: Short, dissipating quickly and leaving little or not aftertaste. No development noted.

Conclusion: Perhaps I do have time for Riesling after all? This was quite a pleasant experience, especially after tasting 2 other cloying sugar bombs. The fact that it lost its oversweet edge over time was a huge bonus and meant that I was able to drink more than 1 glass of it. It improved greatly over time in the glass, but the nose remained a negative for me, although it is by no means any different from most Riesling noses, so don't let that put you off it you're a Riesling fan.

Points: Hm. As it got me over my intrinsic dislike for Riesling I'm encouraged to give it extra points, but then that will inflate it above wines that I regard as better. As a result, 86-88 seems to be a fair range. Not bad at all.

Saint Clair Pioneer's Block 14: 'Doctor's Creek'

I mentioned in my first review that I love Saint Clair as a vinyard. In many ways Saint Clair was the first wine that I really thought about and one that got me hooked on the idea of Pinot Noir and the versatility of grapes in general. Matt Thomson has won a host of awards, including the prestigious for his work at Saint Clair and the Pioneer Block series always deliver - even their Gewürztraminer was excellent, and I am no fan of Gewürztraminer.

I tried PB 15 (as it was in its previous iteration) at approximately this time last year and have since tried several of Saint Clair's Pinot Noirs. The current vintage is 2011's Doctor's Creek, or PB 14 for short. I have now tried it on 4 occasions, 3 of which were tastings, and I feel that I'm on to a real winner with it. I would describe it as an excellent example of  how a New World beast can be tamed.

Nose: SC PB 14 has a lovely intense nose of all the great parts of Pinot Noir - it's a jammy raspberry blast with a hint of mushroom earthiness to back it up. Nutmeg dances around the aroma to give it a hint of depth. An almost ferric hint slips in there somewhere, but is elusive if you look for it. As with Pioneer Block 3, intensity is the buzzword regarding Saint Clair's wines, but don't imagine that it is just intensity. There's also great complexity and this is not a wine to be dismissed as a New World 'fruit bomb'.

Palate: Sweet with the slight sourness that characterises top Pinot Noir. The fruit is held in place and structured with this, combined with pepper and spice backing up the juiciness. This is most certainly not Burgundy - it's juicy and fruity and lacks the savoury 'barnyard' gaminess of top Burgundy, but has much to interest nevertheless. In time (approx 1.5 hours) the spice becomes more pronounced - becoming more Burgundian. Interesting. Excellent.

Body: As an inexperienced taster, this is somewhat hard to describe. In terms of flavour, this is a full-bodied mouth-filling wine but it isn't heavy in the slightest. It is in fact exceptionally smooth, suggesting it's light of body. Whatever the correct description is, it's lovely.

Finish: Is that a hint of menthol, clearing my palate for another glass? Only one way to find out...

Conclusion: With cellaring potential of 5 years from vintage (i.e. up to 2016) it is well worth buying a case or two. It is an easy-going crowd pleaser and will never fail to impress. Serve with slow-cooked paprika chicken or prawns with squid-ink linguine (contact me for a recipe if you want). I have a photo of it somewhere that I should upload... 

Points: Excellent. 91, especially after a little time exposed to the air.

Saint Clair Pioneer Block 3

Hello all and sundry. While this is my first entry on my first blog, I am glad to say that this is not the first time I've had the privilege of trying Saint Clair's fantastic Pioneer Block 3 sauvignon blanc.

Since I started organising wine tastings (although to give them such a formal name belies the casual and amateur approach we have!), one vineyard and one wine in particular has caught everyone's attention: Saint Clair. Saint Clair Pioneer Block 3 (SC PB 3, for short) is a magnificent expression of the excitement of New World wine. It captures the new, modern approaches to wine-making alongside the sense of excitement and freshness increasingly associated with the New World, especially New Zealand.

Nose: Zing! Straight away there’s a great deal of passionfruit, citrus – lime and perhaps some mandarin?, gooseberry and redcurrant. Make no mistake, this is Kiwi SB at its most zesty. While this is most certainly not for the faint-hearted or those that love the subtle minerality of a Sancerre, my goodness does it have character, taste and accessibility in spades!

Palate: The palate follows mostly from the above. The wine tasting group was interestingly somewhat divided on their opinions. All agreed that it was a great wine for a tasting, purely because of the ‘shock’ factor it carries, but is it perhaps too bold for some? It was described as ‘magnificent’, ‘wow’ and ‘extraordinarily intense’, but others were less effusive in their praise, teasingly describing it as ‘unsubtle’ and ‘up front’.

Conclusion: While the lack of subtlety may be a deal-breaker for some, I believe it is SC PB 3’s key asset. Each glass packs some serious punch and it develops nicely in the glass, somehow growing more intense, but never cloying, oversweet or unpleasantly acidic. To me, it is a real mark of Saint Clair’s quality that they have produced such an intense wine with none of the negatives usually associated with New Zealand SB.
While I have matched this with an excellent crab linguine before, one guest suggested it was perhaps too intense. In future I will try it with a heavy creamy pasta. Images will follow at some point!

I usually rate out of 10 – this got 7.5+ and moved to 8.5 after an hour in the glass. If I had to rate out of 100, I would suggest 90+. It costs anything from £14-18.

Image courtesy of Saint Clair Wines.