The Auswine Forum

This wine was the stand out at the Marlborough Wine and Food Festival last weekend. 2002 Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir has wonderful varietal flavour no mistake that this is anything other than a P/N. Ruby in colour aromas of fresh green herbs, spice and sweet ripe cherries. In the mouth silky and youthful with red fruits, dried herbs and spicy oak, balanced acid holds everything together for the flavours to coat the mouth and give a long lingering finish. A sign of quality about this wine is that its 14% does not impair the aroma or flavour.

2002 was an excellent vintage in Marlborough all grapes were hand harvested 7 different clones were blended to make what i think was the best 2002 Pinot Noir i tasted at the festival. The wine could easily cellar for 6 years plus and dear i say it i think its worth its nz$40 Price tag.
Near the end of the day i matched a serving of rabbit ( promoted as 'Braised Bunny Stew') with a glass of the wine, the pinot Noir was a good match to the gamey flavours of the rabbit.

Cheers
Geoffrey

Thanks for the TN ... what other Pinots did you try at the festival ? Wither Hills, Fromm, Serisen ??? I am interested to know what the CB was compared to. Cheers, Curt.

Curt
Forty four Marlborough vineyards had tents at the festival but unfortunately Wither Hills wasn't amongest them, Seresin was but its P/N was not there for tasting. I have tasted both of these vineyards 02 Pinots late last year. Looking back at my notes i have not scored either of these wines as high as the Cloudy Bay. Both i marked down for lack of varietal flavour and having no finesse as they were all big fruit bombs. Fromm Clayvin Vineyard Pinot Noir was there but falls in the same trap not to mention its over pricing at $50+.
Other Pinot Noirs that i did enjoy that day from the 20 odd i tasted were,
Montana 'Terraces' 2002
Wairau River Wines 2001
Mount Riley Seventeen Valleys 2001
The rest were a mixed crew that time may turn into princes or frogs.

On the friday visited couple of vineyards and tasted a couple a good Merlots.None of them to set the world on fire but well priced and wines that age had given some lovely character. the shame about these vineyards are they are pulling all these vines out and replacing with Pinot Noir.

Geoffrey

Curt
Sorry forgot to log in for the above
Geoffrey

I was rather sad that, during the last NZ wine show in Sydney I've attended, Cloudy Bay were still showing the 2001 Pinot Noir which I thought, given the vintage was pretty decent. After reading your TN Geoffrey, I bet the 2002 is a better wine and I'm looking forward tasting it in the near future.
If you are interested in my opinion of NZ pinots and others, my tasting notes include them from No.9 to No.20.
Look them up if you wish.
Cheers,
Attila