New Hall, Barons Red, 2018, England
New Hall in Chelmsford, Essex make a lot of wine. This red is a blend Pinot Noir, Acolon and Rhondo grapes. It’s a reasonably simple wine, dry with red fruit aromas and sour cherry flavour with an oak under note.
For an English red wine this is very good, easy drinking with decent flavour and £11 a bottle. Sure go to £25 a bottle and you can get Gusbournes Pinot Noir which is excellent but this is much easier on the pocket and very good.
From North East Italy this Pinot Noir shows that italy isn’t just about Prosecco.
Its not go a lot of flavour, there are hints of lemon, peach, brioche and dryness that makes it easy drinking but it feels more grown up. Good structure but not Champagne quality.
Its subtle in many ways and it went well with a starter of smoked salmon and with a cheese board. Well worth trying out although may be not worth a case of it.
Jako Wine, Brut, Pinot Noir, Sparkling, Italy
There’s lots of New Zealand Pinot Noir out there, some cheap and some expensive and this Crossroads, Milestone Series is a cheaper one, under £10 a bottle. It dry, pretty smooth, light with aromas of redcurrant, tobacco hints that are followed by flavours of strawberries and hints of plum and vanilla.
It’s what you would have mid week or as a second bottle at an evening dinner party. It’s nice but not excellent.
Crossroads, Milestone Series, Pinot Noir, 2016, New Zealand
Denbies make a lot of wine, sparkling and still and do it well. This is made from Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, your traditional grapes for Champagne. Dry and crisp with medium acidity and clean tasting with aromas and flavours of lemon, green apple and vanilla. Yes there’s yeasty notes but there’s more to it and its refreshing, bringing you back for glass after glass, unless your wife says stop!
Its at a similar price at Champagne its a better bet for me.
Denbies, Cubitt Reserve, 2010, UK
Denbies, Cubitt Reserve, 2010, UK
New Zealand has knack of doing SOME great Sauvignon Blanc and great Pinot Noir, but whats this “Falcon” Pinot Noir from Lake Chalice like?
Its light, dry and pretty smooth. You get aromas of cranberry and strawberry with redcurrant and vanilla. These feed into the taste with a little plum and cherry adding to it. All light and subtle with a beautiful smoothness that makes you want to savour this wine rather than gulp it. Its not that expensive at £15 a bottle, at the lower end of New Zealand pinot Noir and very good value.
Lake Chalice, Falcon, Pinot Noir, 2016, New Zealand
This Paddy Borthwick Pinot Noir is from Wairarapa on the south part of the north island of New Zealand. Light, smooth, dry and fabulous is how I can best describe this wine.
There are aromas of leather, cherry, redcurrant and strawberry with a oaky earthy notes in there. There are additional flavours of mushroom, plum, tobacco which are all in balance with each other, nothing too much poking through. This is a very enjoyable and very drinkable wine, recommend all year round with or without food. Cracking.
At £18 a bottle its good value for an excellent New Zealand Pinot Noir.
Paddy Borthwick, Pinot Noir, 2014, New Zealand
Light, dry, smooth, good fruit levels with a decent hit of acidity is what describes this wine. There are tannins, these are well integrated and there’s red fruit aromas of sour cherry and redcurrant on the nose and in the mouth. You get extra flavours of plum, spice, herbs and oak which add up to a great experience.
Germany wine is so under rated outside of Germany. Yes in the past and still now, we in the UK don’t always get the best in the supermarkets, but go to a wine merchant and you can get some crackers with very few duff ones. This got a silver at the Decanter World Wine Awards and it well deserves it.
H J Kreuzberg, Sonnenberg 2016, Spatburgunder, Ahr, Germany
New Zealand wine was made on the back of some excellent Sauvignon Blanc, Cloudy Bay and Greywacke to name 2.
Pinot Noir is another excellent wine that New Zealand produces and so far I’ve not had a bad bottle, you do get some poor NZ Sav Blanc now a days. Russian Jack is Majestic wine in house NZ Pinot Noir and at £13 a bottle it’s not a cheap NZ Pinot Noir.
You get a fair amount of red fruit, strawberry, redcurrant, plum, cherry, both on the nose and in the mouth. It’s dry with an earthy undertone but it’s a little light all round. There’s little tannins and it’s quite smooth. At £10 or under this would be great but for 3 or 4 pounds more you can get better. Personal I would say nice, but spend a bit more.
Russian Jack, Pinot Noir 2017, New Zealand
New Zealand does Pinot Noir as good as the best in the world. There is wonderful red fruit on the nose. It’s silky smooth, elegant and quite light, yet there are deep complex flavours with hints of dark berries with a touch of pepper and spices. Great levels of acidity, tannins excellent length and a perfect finish.
As you get the idea I loved this wine, I’m surprised it only got a silver medal at the IWSC, for me this is so Gold or above. The only downside is the price at over £30 a bottle which would put people off. Just do it, order it today.
Matua Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2014, Central Otago, New Zealand
From Marlborough in New Zealand this is an easy drinking dry, fruit driven Pinot Noir rose wine. You get the usual aromas of strawberry and redcurrant and those follows on in the taste. You also get hints of peach and a clean mineral taste.
There’s more flavour that a French Provence rose wine but at £14 a bottle it’s a little bit pricey, very nice but too much for rose. Straight Pinot Noir from New Zealand is only a few pounds more and you get a wine that generally out classes much of the European Pinot Noir reds.
Spy Valley – Pinot Noir Rosé 2017 from New Zealand