Pisa Range 2003 Pinot Noir Black Poplar (Central Otago) – Dark beet and blood orange. Still powerfully youthful, and in fact it might be hardening a bit. I keep reading Kiwi wine cognoscenti suggesting that many of the early-00s pinots are on the downslope. So I’ve opened a handful. So far, the only conclusion I can reach is that they’re out of their minds. If anything, these wines haven’t even hit their midlife crisis yet. (5/10)
Browse Tag
screwcap
Mohua the lawn
Mohua 2008 Pinot Noir (Central Otago) – Starts off with the bitter beet, dusty blackberry, and blood orange rind so common to New Zealand pinots (is this a clonal issue? it sure seems ubiquitous), but then goes absolutely nowhere. Half of a good wine. Where’s the second act? (5/10)
Jumpin’ Juniper
Juniper Crossing 2005 Shiraz (Margaret River) – It’s the power of suggestion, perhaps, but this does taste like its eponymous aromatic. Maybe it’s pine needle, maybe there’s a cedar element, but after consideration it really does smell of juniper and forest. There’s dark, dark, dark fruit as well, though the weight of it isn’t as heavy as such opacity usually indicates. It’s a simple, basic wine, but it does have that intriguing individualism, and I enjoy it as the bargain it is. (5/10)
Digital Mystikz
de Morgenzon “DMZ” 2008 Chardonnay (South Africa) – Sticky vinyl, soupy imitation butterscotch, bleary-eyed booziness. Awful. (4/10)
North & South
de Morgenzon “DMZ” 2008 Shiraz (South Africa) – Big, goopy, dull-witted, and not even reaching simplicity as the opposite of complexity. This is very poor. (4/10)
Palliser o’ mine
Palliser Estate 2005 Pinot Noir (Martinborough) – If there’s a “standard” New Zealand pinot noir character, with adjustments for climate and vintage, this has it: dark and intense berried fruit, beet (and lots of it), a little hint of blood orange rind, and liquid earth with a fully-integrated structure, even in its youth. Straightforward, approachable, and tasty. (4/10)
Plymouth Plantation
Voyager Estate 2006 Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon (Margaret River) – Grassy grapefruit rind, crisp and slightly overdriven. It’s a very refreshing drink, but it’s the refreshment of a fruit-based soda more than a wine. Still, it seems churlish to complain, because this is neither advertised as nor attempting to be some vinous sophisticate. I suspect it would be even better with food. (4/10)
Arthur "Two Hands" Jackson
Two Hands 2003 Shiraz “Bad Impersonator” (Barossa Valley) – 15.0%. Really not bad at all. Powerful, for sure, and this is a decidedly berry-dominated expression of syrah, but that’s not unexpected. There’s black pepper and some iron-flake minerality, too. Balanced in its steroidal fashion. I admit that, to my surprise, I find this quite appealing. (4/10)
Dog house
Dog Point 2008 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Goes right to the heart of Marlborough sauvignon-ness (sauvignon-icity?) but in a defter, more polished way than the abrasive style that made the region. This, in case it’s not clear, is a good thing. Underripe citrus and grass vie with just enough razory acidity for dominance, and while the wine’s racy enough, it’s neither tooth-scraping nor functionally underripe. Solid, paradigm-defining wine. Which is not to say that there’s not better out there, because there is. (3/10)
Main street
Donaldson Family “Main Divide” 2005 Riesling (New Zealand) – Fruity and a little aggressive, but the bones are just starting to show through the skin, and the wine’s picked up a brittleness it didn’t have even a few months ago. I don’t know if it’s closing or fading. (3/10)