2009 Ostler Pinot Noir, Caroline's, Waitaki River, Otago (Stelvin)
Critics reviews
At 14.3% alcohol, it is the highest to date. Lovely fragrant oak, with a tight spiciness and light cherry and cherry skin fruit, a touch of liquoricy concentration. Superb palate, a tight raspberry and cherry juice quality, wreathed in delicate smokiness and with a tight, lightly herbal edge that really focuses the finish.
(Tom Cannavan - winepages.com - Aug 2011)
About this WINE
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.
Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.
Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.
The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.
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Description
An early harvest, picked from 22 to 29 April, after a long hot summer had concentrated the fruit - there were lots of bunches but with very small berries. They had to overcome a deluge on 22 February, but a timely treatment with talcum powder prevented rot developing on those berries which split, enabling them all to dry out nicely. The 2009 has a dense rich red, colour, bright and powerful, with real intensity on the palate. A sweet-fruited, riper style, but still enough acidity to hold it fresh. This is the powerful brother of the more delicate 2008.
(Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' New Zealand Buyer, June 2012)
Sensual, sensational Kiwi pinot noir from an obscure region based on limestone soils between central Otago and Christchurch, it's intensely fragrant with a mulberry and raspberry fruitiness that's seriously opulent, spicy and textured, but never jammy or cloying.
Anthony Rose, The Independent, 17 December 2011
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