TASTING PANEL

Pinot noir stars.

New Zealand's pinot noir producers aim high and deliver on an unspeakably excellent scale. A hugely diverse range of styles are made across Aotearoa's wine regions, and our judges have found the best of the best

Well, if there was any doubt about the health of New Zealand’s pinot noir industry, the results of this epic tasting can put paid to that, with an unprecedented 20 gold medals being awarded out of a whopping 167 entries submitted. Hardly surprising when you understand that it is New Zealand’s second most widely planted variety next to sauvignon blanc.

While splashes of wines arrived from vintages dating back to 2013, and a 2017 actually shared our first-equal spot, a massive 65 per cent of the entries came from 2019 – clearly a ripping, rock star of a vintage, which absolutely dominated our high scores.

This grape’s name is thought to refer to the shape of the bunch, which looks a bit like a tiny pine (pin in French) cone and once turned into wine, it becomes one of the most exotic, beguiling, confusing yet completely captivating things you’ll ever drink. It’s also notoriously fussy and tricky to grow – meaning it’s more expensive to produce than most other wines. “We tend to think of pinot noir as an expensive variety and in a New Zealand context, it is,” explains judge Colin Ford. “However, on the international stage, New Zealand pinot noir offers tremendous value for money”. Indeed, our gold-medal winners ranged from best buys (under $30) to $60, and they are absolutely stunning. “Wines from other regions around the world will struggle to compete in terms of quality at an equivalent price level,” he adds.

While the big three regions, Central Otago, Marlborough and Martinborough, also dominated on the five-star front, entries from all across the country did very, very well.

“We’re in exciting times,” says Dave Roper, “our serious pinot producers are nailing it and the quality here is stunning. Across the board, we’re seeing more style diversity, more confidence and also respectful restraint. Overall, we see more quality wines from all the regions”.

So what are you likely to find in great local pinot noir? Well it presents a smorgasbord of flavours ranging from red fruits like cherry, raspberry, rhubarb, redcurrant and dark fruits like plum, blueberry and tamarillo, herbaceous notes like rosehip and dried thyme. Think cola, cocoa, tea and truffle and spices ranging from clove to nutmeg, pepper and five spice. The textures are lush, plush, slippery-smooth and silky to sip. So, it’s a crazy-complex wine that attracts people who love to dive into intense flavours and fragrances, and deep, gamey elements like mushroom, duck, pheasant and lamb.

Out of all the entries, there were very few ‘faulty’ wines. However, there were a few that showed over-ripe, raisin and prune characters. “Pinot noir producers need to watch warm vintages carefully and always pick on freshness and balance,” says Dave.

Our tasting panel events are tough, there are multiple mountains a wine has to climb to earn a recommendation from our judging teams and it’s a tightly fought thing to be awarded any medal, let alone a gold. So we at dish just want to enthusiastically congratulate the following producers who make such incredible examples.