I’ve done a few trips done to Central Otago over the years, and visited the Gibbston Valley wineries, but I hadn’t come across the wines from Waitiri Creek on those travels. Funnily enough, the last time I had one of the wines was in Auckland about eight years ago – so it seems cyclical that I’m talking to GM Alistair Ward about the wines and tasting through the current releases – in Auckland! The brand came about when a family of Southland farmers bought paddocks in Gibbston back in the day – after which a handful of producers like Chard Farm, Gibbston Valley and Peregrine started to make wine – the boutique, family-owned label of Waitiri Creek joining them.
Sauvignon Blanc 2019
Grown ‘by their neighbours’, this is the kind of Sauvignon Blanc from Central Otago that I’ve been discovering in the last year – including my visit last November. A steely minerality on the nose, alongside blackcurrant, grapefruit and green herbal flavours. The saline acidity isn’t overdone, adding buoyancy to the fruit and driving the line through the palate, but stays balanced. Countered by a development of deeper, warmer flavours – baked apple, apricot danish, pineapple and oatmeal biscuit. Very good. 92pts
Gewurztraminer 2016
Still a super-pale green-straw colour in the glass, despite the seven years in bottle, and with an equally youthful perfume. Not big on the rose petals, but with enough varietal typicity to identify it. In the citrus, mandarin, lychee, and apple/pear spectrum of flavours. Quite dry and tight, yet with an unctuous ripeness coming through as a waxy, silken texture spreads across the back of the palate. A spicy, elongated finish. 93pts
Harriet Rosé 2021
From early-picked Pinot Noir. A very pale coppery pink in the glass. Strawberry, guava, cherry and peach aromas on the nose. A light prickle of fruit tannin, and just off-dry on the palate. Red liquorice and apple skin. Quite polished and creamy, but not showing great personality. 86pts
Drummer Pinot Noir 2019
Showcasing different clones in the vineyard from the Estate Pinot, this is a “very Central Otago” style of Pinot. A lighter style, but with bags of serious Pinot character. I’m getting some whole-bunch expression straightaway on the nose – very spicy, with cinnamon, cayenne pepper and thyme notes. As savoury as it is fruity, with sour cherry, plum and cranberry, and plenty of youthful toasty oak. The transition from spice, to fruit, to a dry ending, as it flows over the palate is very well-crafted. A delicious youthful wine, but with good potential. 94pts
Waitiri Creek Pinot Noir 2014
The label’s signature wine – with a different range of clones to the ‘Drummer’ expression. A soft nose, showing a little age, and funk. Musky incense, plum, raw steak, cherry, beetroot, tamarillo and salami. Perhaps one for the Pinot buff, and would benefit from decanting after its time slumbering in the bottle – for drinking now, after nearly ten years.. Tannin is holding up – quite firm, but the fruit has lost some of the freshness of youth. Some mineral and herbal layers do emerge, and the finish is well-integrated. 88pts
