Wine Reviews
Karearea 2008 Pinot Noir
Peregrine Wines, Central Otago, New Zealand
This is a delicious Pinot Noir from the Peregrine Winery and is my favourite for 2011!
We first sampled the Karearea 2008 Pinot Noir in January 2011 during a visit to Peregrine Winery. The tasting notes say that it is a complex and concentrated wine with aromatics of cherry, red currant and spice on the nose with chocolate, savoury and leather characters on the palate.
The Karearea 2008 Pinot Noir is drinking really well now with less fruit and more complex flavours starting to develop. This is the result of a few years in the cellar giving time for the acidity to soften and the integration of fruit, tannin and secondary characters (more earthy/savoury characters) to occur.
We learnt that the 2009 and 2010 vintages of Pinot Noir will probably age longer as they had more tannin structure than the 2008 vintage which is looking more elegant. That said, we think the Karearea 2008 Pinot Noir still has a few years to go and have some safely stored away in the cellar for the 2013 to 2016 drinking years.
www.peregrinewines.co.nz
A few extra details:
Maturation: French Oak for 18 months
Food Match: Duck, venison, lamb and beef fillet
The Karearea (New Zealand’s endemic falcon and appears on the New Zealand $20 note) can swoop at speeds over 325 km/h!
Mt Difficulty Target Gully Pinot Noir 2009
Mt Difficulty Wines, Bannockburn, Central Otago, New Zealand
Mt Difficulty’s vineyards are located in Bannockburn, Central Otago, an area that consistently produces some of New Zealand’s top Pinot Noir wines. Mt Difficulty’s range includes three great single vineyard Pinot Noirs. These are only produced in exceptional years when the quality of the harvest is up to the required high standard. All three were produced in 2009.
After a little bit of begging, we were lucky enough to be able to taste all three from the 2009 vintage during a trip to the Mt Difficulty winery. Our favourite was the single vineyard Pinot Noir from Target Gully. We discovered that the Target Gully single vineyard Pinot Noir has only been made twice (the first time was in 2003) so it was an absolute treat to be able to taste this special wine.
Target Gully was developed into a vineyard in 1994 and derived its name from its former use as a shooting range during the gold mining days. The Target Gully block is higher in elevation than the other blocks in the Mt Difficulty stable which means it is typically picked later in the season, the character and density that this wine displays is attributed to this extra time on the vines.
The Target Gully Pinot Noir has a lovely ruby colour with ripe berry fruit, liquorice and spice flavours with an understated earthy aroma. We think that it needs at least five more years in the cellar and were told that it will continue to improve until 2024 if kept in optimal conditions (see our article on Vintec Wine Fridges for a description of the optimal conditions).
This would be a great addition to your cellar collection and we are sure you will not be disappointed!
This wine will match brilliantly with red meat dishes.
www.mtdifficulty.co.nz
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