When The CorkDork suggested Kiwi Reds for this, the 17th edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, I thought it was a great idea. Personally, I had only tried one New Zealand red, a pinot noir from Spy Valley. I enjoyed it, so I was happy for the excuse to explore more.
Well, it was much more difficult to find a wine to post about than I thought. Isn't NZ supposed to be a fairly "hot" region for wines beyond sauvignon blanc? After visiting a few mediocre shops that didn't have any wines that fit the bill, I headed to one that I thought would give me several options.
How many did it offer? Three...one being a newer vintage of the Spy Valley (which Derrick didn't care for too much).
So, after some consideration, I selected this bottle of Borthwick Vineyard 2003 Pinot Noir.
You can visit the Borthwick Vineyard website for background information (they have a nice "story"), but we'll get right to the tasting notes here.
Eyes:
Medium, slightly opaque crimson
Nose: The nose is faint, even with some time in the glass and vigorous swirling, but some cherry aromas are present
Tongue: Medium-to-light body, low tannins (despite what their website says) and lower-than-anticipated acidity. The flavors are primarily cherry with some cola-like notes as well.
Price:
$25
Lenn's Grade: C+
Comments: While not offensive, this wine was underwhelming At this price point, I expect to get a little more -- even from the sometimes-pricey pinot noir. It's an 03 bottling, so maybe it's just still tightly wound and young, but I don't taste enough acid or tannin here to offer any hope for long-term aging. At this point, I'd consider this a gulping pinot noir and that's certainly not what anyone wants for $25, right?
Let's thank The CorkDork for turning our sights to New Zealand...
Lenn, I have not tried this wine but, for what it's worth, the Central Otago pinot noirs are considered to be the best of NZ, with Marlborough trailing behind.
I have had a few of the NZ PNs and would say that Otago is FAR superior to Marlborough in terms of this grape.
Posted by: Terry Hughes | January 05, 2006 at 08:43 AM
boy did i mess up... i drank a bottle of a nice sauvignon blanc! now i have to run down to the market today and update my review.
Posted by: christopher | January 05, 2006 at 11:46 AM
WBW snuck up on me and after a last minute attempt to find a Kiwi red in my neighborhood, I struck out. Perhaps I'll make it a WBF tomorrow. Cheers!
Posted by: Bryan | January 05, 2006 at 08:02 PM
I wonder if you can tell me if i can get a bottle of this in the UK
Posted by: carolyn borthwick | July 04, 2006 at 05:14 AM