Well, that’s one new years resolution out the window with the Wine Blogging Wednesday #17 challenge from Cork Dork of drinking New Zealand red. The resolution was the one about how I was going to buy cheaper, better value wine this year.
Oh well. The best NZ reds to drink are pinot noirs. But try and find something decent for under AUS50 – that’s about US$40.
I was searching for something from Central Otago which I’ve been drinking a fair bit of recently when I became distracted.
I first tried this one at supper early in December. I thought I would see if it was really that good in controlled conditions.
There were just 900 bottles of Old Weka Pass Road Canterbury Pinot Noir 2002. It comes from the Weka Pass in the Waipara region about one north of Canterbury, which is just north of Central Otago, the southern most wine region in the world.
That’s 80 cases which would have made it a pretty good candidate for the previous WBW challenge of finding wines made in less than 200 cases in volumes.
According to the blurb the vinyard is on the site of a 1920s lime quarry, being in the southern hemisphere facing north. It is one hectare in area and was first planted in 1997 with 9,090 pinot vines and 11,111 chardonnay.
The verdict? It smells of a tack room, not just the leather but the saddle soap too. It has hints of spice and plum. It is extremely well balanced. It really is a great drop and I certainly would drink it again. As Jackie said it is very much like a Burgundy.
But would I buy it again at AUS70 a bottle – US$50? Perhaps not. I’ll just have to see how rich I’m feeling.
Apparently the chardonnays are pretty good in this region too.
Oh, Cork Dork does this count as I almost made it to Central Otago?
I could talk about the Mt Difficulty. It’s got herbs, blackberry and all the other stuff. But for me Old Weka Pass is far more interesting as I much prefer the Bergundy style.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I think this would be a fine reason to go on a research trip to the South Island. Can you write blog research off on tax?
I might try it! I think this could be the reason to visit.
I’ll certainly try to taste it. Very interesting. I love reds in general.
Good for you for seeking out quite an original bottle for WBW!
South Island reds don’t often fall in the bargain category. Pegasus Bay (Canterbury) makes some great wines that I think offer decent value for money.
Need another reason to visit?? Wine festival in Queenstown weekend of Feb 4. Hope that tax scheme works out. It should be a very good time.
Cheers!
Cheers. I’ll look out for Pegasus this weekend. Wine festival sounds fun – if only I wasn’t paying=off for Christmas.
The Old Weka Pass Road is a nice little wine thanks for the note. It is basically the de-classified Bell Hill Pinot (which sells for around $125 AUD)…2003 was the first vintage for Bell Hill and they only made 2 barriques ….the vineyard is tiny and the slopes on the shelf vineyard super steep.
It is an exciting region around the Weka Pass….well it is for me because I grew up about 2kms down the road from Sherwyns vineyards at Bell Hill.
Pyramid Valley is another name to look out for in the region…Mike Weersing used to be winemaker at Neudorf and has done stints at Dr Loosen in the Moselo, Domaine de la Pousse d’Or, Nicolas Potel, and Hubert de Montille in Burgundy, Jean-Michel Deiss and Marc Kreydenweiss in Alsace….he’s a top bloke and a total ‘Terroir-head’ he gave me a 4WD tour of his property and explained the geology and soil structures and how they were formed to me and it was fascinating…..should get a first crop in 2006 and will be interesting to see the wines…all biodynamic.
Just catching up on comments Dave. I love seeking out this small vinyard stuff.