Sideways, Down-Under, Or Is It Kiwi-Land?

Conceivably,
but there’s hardly enough to go around. This, however,
shouldn’t prove a major deterrent to the true Pinot devotee.
Anywhere in the world that it grows the finest examples of
this now ultra-trendy wine are produced in limited
quantities. Longtime fans have come to accept the concept of
rarity since mass production is probably less compatible
with quality in Pinot Noir than it is with any other noble
grape.

If we ever
collectively get beyond our automatic association of New
Zealand with Marlborough district Sauvignon Blanc and
explore the full array of wines the country produces,
chances are the first revelation would be how many delicious
Pinot Noirs now originate there. Many of the ones I’ve
tasted lately are inspiring and some show true star
potential, yet they remain a small fraction of the now 1.6
million cases of New Zealand wine we currently import. Even
though the best are not bargains, pound for pound and dollar
for dollar the country’s leading Pinots compare very
favorably to those from Burgundy, Oregon or
California.

The main problem
in understanding Pinot Noir from New Zealand, however, is
identity. For one thing, the whole phenomenon is very
recent. Plantings today total only 95OO acres throughout the
country, which is an increase of 843% from the 1O65 vineyard
acres existing ten years ago. Still Pinot Noir has now
become the country’s most widely planted red variety,
covering about an eighth of the total acreage. This means
the vines are mostly all young, which augurs well for things
to come as they sink deeper roots and impart more vivid
flavors. In the last six years exports have increased
dramatically, but Pinot Noir exports have skyrocketed over
12OO%, meaning that the vast majority of consumers who buy
these wines are encountering them for the first
time.

The picture is
complicated further by how many different distinctive styles
of Pinot Noir are made. Despite New Zealand’s small size,
the country’s varied microclimates provide quite a range of
taste profiles depending on the vineyard region. This means
you have to look closely at the geographical information on
the label to understand the particular kind of pleasure it
will provide. Comparative tastings demonstrate this quite
clearly. What? Flavor plus terroir? For a Pinot Noir hound,
and it seems we’ve all become one lately, the possibilities
are almost too good to be true.

Despite the
geographic and topographical diversity among and within its
many wine producing regions, which span nearly a thousand
miles north to south, one element that all New Zealand
vineyard areas growing Pinot Noir share is a temperate
climate with unusually long hours of sunshine during the
ripening cycle. Flavor development therefore takes place
slowly over an extended period in cool conditions, but with
an abundance of sunshine. Soils tend to hold onto the
generally meager solar heat radiated well into the evening.
These are exactly the conditions favoring Pinot
quality.

In terms of the
overall picture, Marlborough is the magic name and over 4O%
of the vines are planted there, but they tend to cluster
further south than the central Wairau Valley where the
greatest concentration of Sauvignon Blanc grows. The
sub-zones of most interest are Omaka, Brancott and Waihopai.
Martinborough, on the southern tip of the North Island a
sub-region of Wellington, is actually a touch warmer and,
although less densely planted than Marlborough, remains the
center of some of the finest Pinot plantings. It was the
first area to plant the grape in any commercial quantities –
the first harvests occurring as recently as 1984. Now,
together with the other vineyards of Wairarapa, which
encompass Martinborough, just over 1O% of the country’s
total Pinot Noir plantings are located there. The most up
and coming region that appears to be generating the greatest
buzz is Central Otago, where a fifth of all New Zealand’s
Pinot Noir is now planted. This inland zone is unique in the
country for being the one district not exposed to maritime
influence. Sheltered by mountains and separated from the
nearest other vineyard districts by hundreds of miles, it is
also situated the furthest from the equator of any
viticultural district in the world. There were virtually no
vines of any kind planted there fifteen years ago, and now
some of the most sought after Pinot Noirs outside of
Burgundy are being produced. Two smaller South Island zones,
Nelson (which is near Marlborough) and Waipara (which is
considerably further south, about halfway between
Marlborough and Central Otago) also produce Pinot Noirs that
are regionally distinctive, and within each of these major
areas there are also sub-regional variations based on soil
and micro-climate differences.