THE VERDICT

While some top regions were under-represented, the many higher-scorers showed good varietal character and regional individuality, and there were few disappointments, as Tina Gellie reports

While ‘Pinot Noir’ on the wine label is enough of a lure for most wine lovers, what unique selling point do the additional words ‘single vineyard’ provide?

The consensus among our judges was that a single vineyard is the New World’s version of a ‘climat’ in Burgundy – a specific parcel of vines – and that labelling a bottle with a single-vineyard designation implied that it was of higher quality than a producer’s ‘basic’ Pinot Noir.

‘It indicates this is a producer’s best-quality fruit,’ explained James Doidge. ‘This is the wine they will spend the most time and energy on because it will be the reference point for the estate’s ultimate quality.’

Dirceu Vianna Junior MW felt the term helped the ‘real wine lover’ who wanted to know the story behind the wine. ‘A less-involved consumer will probably be happy with a bottle that just says “Pinot Noir” regardless of the country or region it comes from, let alone the vineyard, so long as it satisfies on a varietal level.’

Doidge agreed. ‘I do wonder about the point of indicating single vineyards outside the classic regions. It’s useful in Burgundy when you can compare this guy’s Nuits-St-Georges to lots of other Nuits-St-Georges. But I doubt most of these New World vineyards are sufficiently well known to consumers that it makes a difference – apart from the increased price. So the term becomes slightly artificial.’

A more defined sense of place was what Roger Jones wanted a singlevineyard Pinot Noir to offer. ‘The generic wine should say “This is Pinot Noir”, the single-vineyard should say “This is Pinot Noir from here”.’

New Zealand and Chile comprised more than half the wines submitted, so this tasting was not a balanced representation of single-vineyard Pinot Noir globally, but nevertheless the judges felt all 100 wines displayed good varietal character and the best were also expressive of their origins.

‘I was surprised to see so many Chilean wines,’ said Jones, ‘but I was blown away – brilliant! There’s now great diversification in Chile where you can say that a Pinot from this region is different to that region.’

‘Chile was very consistent,’ noted Vianna. ‘I was very excited by that, particularly Leyda. And you could taste the vintage variations.’

He and his fellow tasters also singled out South Africa’s Hemel-enAarde and Elgin wines for consistently high quality and regional expression, despite the small number entered.

Doidge found the ‘huge number’ of Marlborough wines ‘all over the place stylistically’: some light and elegant, others dark and concentrated. ‘Jones said the region had ‘changed dramatically’ from when it was purely known for its Sauvignon Blancs, and many sub-regions were now making ‘amazing, affordable Pinot Noirs’.

New Zealand was ‘rewarding but very safe’, for Vianna, who didn’t find the excitement he’d expected, apart from in Martinborough and Waipara. In Australia, judges were disappointed there was only one Tasmanian wine, but Mornington Peninsula impressed.

Vianna found a stylistic similarity across the US wines. ‘They’re really powerful, intense, exuberant and ripe. Maybe too blowsy for many British palates, but well made.’ Oregon stood out for Doidge. ‘ People talk about it as being halfway between California and Burgundy and that came across clearly, with most of the wines having lovely balance between ripeness and acidity, thanks in part to widespread use of whole-bunch fermentation.’

Entry criteria: New World producers and UK agents were invited to submit their latest- release, 100% Pinot Noir still red wines produced from grapes from a single vineyard

‘For our judges, a single vineyard is the New World version of a climat in Burgundy’