An invite gratefully received at this time of year is the unveiling of a carefully curated box of Pinot Noir that Curt Thomas compiles annually. The ‘guru of Pinot’ assembles a set of wines from each year and opens them all on one day… eight years on. In the company of a fortunate few, and accompanied by the most delicious food. It’s the best informative and downright enjoyable session on wine that I attend in any year.
2023 has been a bugger of a year so far, so this is a welcome distraction from the troubles at hand. We’re presented a collection of wines from the 2014 vintage, taking in Burgundy, California, Tasmania, Mornington Peninsula and New Zealand. The vintage in France was not great – wet, with hail smashing through the Cote de Beaune in particular. However, critics do now regard the 2014s as reasonable, if not great. Softer, supple, and with an approachability you don’t always see in warmer years. California had another dry year, with an early harvest and low yields. Tasmania had a wet start to the season, damaging flowering and lowering crops. Summer recovered but some harvest showed ‘millerandage’ and associated astringencies. Likewise for Mornington Peninsula – lower yields, and a bit stemmy overall. New Zealand had no great issues. A moderate winter led into a warm spring and a dry summer.
A very quick run through the wines (all 2014s) with a few highlights…
Moorooduc Estate from Mornington Peninsula. Good perfume – something like incense and violets amongst the fruits. A little straight up and down – a good, solid, well-balanced Pinot.
Blank Canvas from Waihopai Valley in Marlborough. Another great set of aromatics in this second wine – bright and floral… I suspect an influence of whole-bunch winemaking. Fresh, confident and brimming with ripe tannins and plush fruit. Elegant, could easily be French.
Akitu A1 from the Wanaka area of Central Otago. A dark, intense and brooding expression. Succulent – with a fruit sweetness that goes well with a savoury, mineral edge. Spicy, with great tannin and, honestly, quite tight and youthful. Impressive.
Freycinet Vineyard from Tasmania. Blue fruits and quite spicy. Well weighted and with good concentration into the palate. Smooth and silky with a little edge of savoury smoked meats towards the finish.
Doctors Flat from Bannockburn. Lots of herbal and spice elements to the aromatics here, as well as that Bannockburn black cherry. Very well integrated, with the tannin, oak and acidity all building through the palate. A great, dry finish that persists.
David Moreau Premier Cru ‘Clos Rousseau’ from Santenay. A fairly ‘new world’ expression of Burgundy, from the bottom of the Cote de Beaune. Some density and robustness to the fruit, juicy and firm. A mocha note adds savoury interest.
Two Rivers ‘Altitude’ from Marlborough is not a wine I’ve crossed paths with before. I’ll look for this again. The most full throttle of the bunch so far – concentrated and dense. A lovely earthy, mineral character underlines some ripe, dark fruit, framed with toasty oak.
Bruno Clair ‘Les Longerches’ from Marsannay. To the northern outpost of Burgundy, and a wine that puts the fruit first. Plush, energy-filled and well focused, with loganberry and red fruits jam-packed into the glass. A little sap and astringency works its way into the finish though, adding nuance.
Felton Road ‘Bannockburn’ from Central Otago is the entry level blend of their sites across Bannockburn, offering that quintessential expression. Black tea tannins, a balsam herbalness, and a kirsch cherry note. Supple and fleshy, but definitely something unique. A calm completeness to the finish. Very good.
Tolpuddle Coal River Vineyard from Tasmania. Lovely fragrant nose, with smoke, spice and herbs alongside the red fruits. Showing a little too restrained on the palate, needs a bit more body to shine amongst this line up.
Neudorf Moutere from Nelson. Fresh, lush and inviting nose. Plenty of everything going on – complex with an abundance of purple fruits, sap, spice and violet florals. Distinctive, and a lot of layered nuance to the palate – a different element crops up with every sip. Super, dry finish with great length.
Giesen Clayvin from Marlborough. A vineyard held in top regard – we also had the Fromm wine made from the same site. A bright but dark ruby colour shows itself in the palate as well – dense, chewy and concentrated. A sensational core of resinous tannins, acidity and nutty oak. Still a baby, this has years of development ahead.
Fromm Clayvin from Marlborough. See above. A ready-to-enjoy version from the Clayvin. A gentle spice, but lovely fragrant florals on the nose. Red fruits like raspberry, cherry and plum. A bit of root beer and savoury forest-floor give a delicate balance. Well-crafted, elegant and precise.
Domaine de la Cote from Santa Rita Hills, California. Great aromatics – smoked spices, cherry, rhubarb, pomegranete, cola. Dry, quite light and bright, but with depths of oak and tannin supporting. Super balance, texture and the finish is very, very long.
Escarpment ‘Te Rehua’ from Martinborough. The dark arts from Martinborough, presented in glass. A robust, smoky, peaty nose with anise, cherry, damson and raspberry. Great depth, a heroic tannin layer and spiced, plush fruit. Bold, textural but undeniably well-crafted, showing excellent length on the finish.
Alain Burguet ‘Les Champeaux’ Premier Cru from Gevrey-Chambertin. Shy on the nose – some floral notes and lighter, cranberry and sour cherry peeking out. Slightly reductive, but smooth into the palate, with a core of fine minerally tannin. Ripe but not forward with its fruit. A pleasant glass without too much wow factor.
Ata Rangi from Martinborough. Something old fashioned about the nose – rose petal and pot pourri, a dusty spice and thyme. But give it a swirl to wake up, and it delivers a seductive perfume of black plum, blood orange and red cherry, mixed with a bloody, iron-earth tang. Wow. Good acidity, more savoury notes of olive and sumac in the quite refined, yet voluminous palate.
Domaine des Croix ‘Les Bressandes’ Premier Cru from Beaune. Plum, cherry, blueberry and a menthol-eucalypt note that lifts the nose. Rich, supple and concentrated – very drinkable. Depth and focus and very nicely balanced wine, lots of energy.
Marquis d’Angerville ‘Champans’ Premier Cru from Volnay. A brisk, ethereal nose, airily filled with cassis, salinity, cranberry, red plum and chestnut. Ripe, sweet fruit matched by a loamy, forest floor savouriness. Fine tannin and a good flow through the palate – ends sweet, supple and silken. Very nice – a good example of the region.
Calera ‘Ryan Vineyard’ from Mt Harlan, California. Very dark depths in the glass and broodingly intense on the nose. Sandalwood, damson, liquorice, cherry compote and lilac florals. Concentration continues into the palate, with a crunch of black fruit, overlaid with stemmy spice. Big tannin, boomingly big wine. A fitting finale to a wide range of wine styles and terroirs. Yum.
