Spy Valley - Pinot Noir (2007) - 15/20

Pinot Noir is a damned difficult grape for vintners to manage, to produce and also for drinkers to chase down and get it opened at the right time so that it is performing well in your glass.

100% Pinot Noir
Alcohol : 13.5%
My Rating : 15/20 - three stars

Spy Valley have a reputation for managing to do it right - but the latest tasting of their highly rated 2007 Pinot Noir has left me a bit ... Meh!

It's light, bright, cherry flavours, with a little bit of strawberry, and it's quite quaffable but at a price of NZD$30 it's not really delivering enough taste. The nose is promising, richly scented, displaying dark plum, spice and savoury mushroom characters and a bit of farmyard funk. It's just the palate is a bit lightweight really.

There is nothing wrong with it - but this is not really a satisfying glass and does not seem to be aging well to me which does seem to be a perennial problem with this light style of pinot.

This wine was definately delivering more when it was first released - and with Spy Valley readily available in New Zealand at supermarkets and bottle storres it's probably best to stick to the latest vintages and drink within 12 months.
(or you can buy direct from the Spy Valley Website)

If you have any Spy Valley - Pinot Noir 2007 left in your cellar - it would be best to consume it soon.

Trinity Hill - Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot (2002) - 17/20

So - I was minding my own business, walking down a local New World supermarket in Manawatu, when I just happened to spy a row of black coloured wine bottles, containing a meritage blend of grapes with 8 years of age, from a well respected Hawkes Bay winery.

Fantastic - who needs to cellar wine when you can buy this sort of quality, ready to drink, at the local market?

62% Cabernet sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 10% cabernet franc
Alcohol : 13.5%
My Rating : 17 / 20 - Three and a half stars

Produced and bottled from the Gimblett Road area by Trinity Hill, you know that you're going to get a serious wine - and the $35 supermarket price tag seems fair value.

Initial tastes are dense, deep fruit, a firmly structured red with strong drying tannins. It is a solid, serious red with significant oak and chocolate undercurrents, spice and tar flavours. Blueberries and spice.

I saved a couple of glasses for the next day, vacuum pump sealing the bottle overnight, and the palete had barely changed, still retaining that complex savoury taste.

It's good but does really need some food to go with it as it is a big, big flavour. It was perfect with roast meats - roast pork in this case. Mmmm.

Clos du Mont-Olivet - Montueil la Levade (2007) - 18.5/20

I'm a big Rhone fan - and of course Chateauneuf-du-pape is a wonderful appellation, but the prices on CNdP are rocketing up, and I'm always on the lookout for a more budget concious alternative that still delivers the taste.

This Cotes du Rhone wine may be it. 

80% old vines Grenache, 5% Syrah, 15% Carignan
Alcohol : 14.0%
My Rating : 18.5/20 - Four and a half stars.

This wine has a rich, licorice, fruity, spicy flavour, and wonderful deep purple hue, and a very complex nose offering hints of citrus, lavender and of course wonderful rich red fruit.

It's 80% grenache, but all "Vieilles Vignes" giving a depth and complexity that only comes from advancing ages, with the grenache planting having an average of 40 years in the terroir.

Surprisingly this wine is 100% tank aged and fermented and to have all this spice without foudre wood barrel aging says volumes about the quality of the fruit from 2007 - a fantastic vintage for Southern Rhone.

Produced by Clos Du Mont-Olivet and obviously a second tier wine behind their CNdP range, this Cotes du Rhone is imported into New Zealand by John of Truffle Imports of Wellington (he does mail order), and it is retailing for around NZ$35 a bottle.

Frankly it has a taste and intensity that puts many weaker CNdP producers to shame and this wine is a fantastically priced alternative to Chateauneuf du Pape. Get it while it lasts.

Te Mata Coleraine (1997) - 19.5/20

Let's start this wine blog with a real star - over the last two nights I've enjoyed a bottle of Te Mata's premium wine - the 1997 vintage of Coleraine.

55% Cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot and 15% cabernet franc

Alcohol : 13.0%

My Rating : 19.5 / 20 - Five Stars

I've been a fan of Hawkes Bay reds for a while now, and the Te Mata vineyard in particular, but truth to be told I've usually found the Coleraine just a little bit too "big" and not to my taste - instead prefering the little brother "Awatea".

This bottle of 1997 Coleraine has changed my mind.

I wanted something to enjoy with a nice rack of lamb, and the Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot blends of Hawkes Bay came quickly to mind. A quick check of the Te Mata wine vintage chart on their website showed that the 1997 Coleraine and Awatea were at their peak, and as I have a few bottles of the 1997 Coleraine stashed away I broke one out.

Previously, I've found that Coleraine is a little too overpowering, and despite the rave reviews that this wine often gets from mainstream wine journalists, I've personally found the individual elements on the palette are usually far from merged and quite astringent.

But, always prepared to give a wine a fair trial, especially if I've already stumped up for a dozen bottles, I took the website at it's word and popped the cork and decanted, via an aerator. The smell was instantly attractive, a merge of wine, oak, and a faint hint of the musty smells of the cellar.

This vintage is perfect, a wonderful blend of three classic grapes, and right now I would say that it's a match for the best of it's style and would hold up against the best of Bordeaux. The 1997 Coleraine is a perfect wine with lamb, and most roast meat.

The 2008 Coleraine is available from Te Mata Vineyards now (at NZ$69 per bottle) and it's a very similar makeup of grapes and has been very well praised by those in the know, and the 2008 could be a real treat in 10-11 years time if you can wait that long. It will be worth the wait !