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06/20/04

20 Jun 2004 (Herald Sun Magazine)

Category: Dog Point Pinot Noir

Posted by: dogpoint

I'm a regular guy who likes regular things in regular places and I don't tike things trying to be something they're not. So I don't like ballet dancers trying to be rugby players, modern artists trying to be V8 Supercar drivers or chefs trying to be TV hosts. And I don't like pinot noir trying to be shiraz. Pinot noir is meant to be medium-bodied, slippery, seductive, supple and gracious, while shiraz should be spicy, rich, full-bodied and occasionally over the top.

So what is it with the heap of New Zealand winemakers who are making pinot noir that tastes like it's just taken a hatful of shiraz steroids? The worst offenders seem to be from one of the world's trendiest wine regions, Central Otago, around Queenstown on the South Island. Many (not all) of the pinots from here have deep colour, huge flavours and short palates - wine legend Len Evans calls them tadpole wines because they're big at the front with not much following through.

But there is salvation from the familiar Marlborough region at the top of the South Island. Most famous for producing the best sauvignon blanc in the world, it's also, for my money, now producing many of New Zealand's best pinots the way they should be - lighter in colour, gorgeous in texture, long and silky on the palate and damn delicious. And they're half the price of their cousins down south because many wrongly look to Marlborough for whites and Central Otago for pinot noir. A pinot lover's best friend: Dog Point Pinot Noir 2002. from an ex-Cloudy Bay winemaker, is the first vintage of a wine that's going to be famous one day.

Stuart Gregor

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