Wine Blogging Wednesday
Lawson's Dry Hills - Marlborough - Pinot Noir - 2002
Here's a New World (New World in the context of wine, anyway) location that I had not heard of growing pinot noir - New Zealand. Apparently New Zealand has been getting serious about making good reds, particularly pinot noir.
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this bottle, and to be honest, I'm not too sure of my findings.
The first note: the bottle has a screw cap closure, which is unusual at this price point ($20) in the United States market, but not unusual in New Zealand, where the industry is rapidly switching to screwcaps.
(My own emotions on the screwcap issue are complex, but on the whole I'm in favor of them.)
This particular seal was damn difficult to open by hand, and so I had to use a knife to cut the perforations around the bottom of the cap. Annoying, because isn't the screw cap supposed to make getting to the good stuff a snap? I enjoy the cork-pulling ritual, but no longer needing to carry a toolkit to get to your wine is part of the point in leaving cork behind.
So, I poured. Now, the gentleman at the shop had warned me to let this wine breathe for an hour before drinking. So I had fair warning that it wasn't at its best 3 seconds after opening. Still, the smell of sulfur really frustrated me. (It wasn't a good sign, and I'd been really looking forward to this bottle.) Beyond that, the wine smelled a bit harsh or coarse, and too alcoholic. (The label says 13.5%, which sounds reasonable, but I could swear the alcohol level seems higher.) So, worried about what would happened next, I resolved to wait an hour and give the wine a fair shot.
It's very clear, and a deep ruby color. The nose: honestly, there wasn't much to smell aside from the alcohol, tannin and a just a little bit of vanilla and berries. It's indistinct, kind of muddled. Tasting, there's a lot more tannin and spice than I expect in a pinot noir (and maybe my expectations are incorrect! but if you'd told me this was a syrah, I'd believe you), and the tannin itself is, well, harsh. I like a chewy red, but this is more acrid. Even a little acrid edge I can enjoy, but this... maybe it's the sulfur I smelled at the beginning that put me off, but I think of the smoke of a match that's just been put out. Not bad entirely, but not really what I was looking for in my wine. Let me put it this way... my eyes were burning, kind of the way they do when you chop onions. I want to like this wine, and it's got its decent qualities, but it's kind of unbalanced. It has a nice syrupy medium-to-full body mouthfeel, and there are tantalizing hints of vanilla and berries in the middle of all the rough and sharp edges. The finish is spicy, earthy and very herbaceous. It's not without it's good side.
So, why is this wine the way it is? Well, I wish I knew... I have to admit the ignorance of a young wine drinker here, but I'll hazard a few gueses. Maybe the wine needs more age to soften it up? I did notice that there is a ring of very tiny bubbles around the edge of the liquid against the glass. After 3 years in the bottle, there can't be any fermentation still happening, can there? Maybe the source of the sulfur smell was some kind of yeast issue? Reading some of the good reviews of this wine, I feel expecially terrible for not liking it all that much. Maybe it just needs the right food pairing to take the edge off.
This web page mentions causes of both sulfur problems and carbonation issues. Perhaps these are some of the issues with this bottle. (Or maybe this is all in my head, and I'm just not a pinot noir fan?) Wine is so subjective, and even more so when you're inexperienced. I wish I could just pay for the bottle and then open it in the store and share it with the wonderfully knowledgeable owner. Ah, that would be a fun afternoon...
Here's a New World (New World in the context of wine, anyway) location that I had not heard of growing pinot noir - New Zealand. Apparently New Zealand has been getting serious about making good reds, particularly pinot noir.
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this bottle, and to be honest, I'm not too sure of my findings.
The first note: the bottle has a screw cap closure, which is unusual at this price point ($20) in the United States market, but not unusual in New Zealand, where the industry is rapidly switching to screwcaps.
(My own emotions on the screwcap issue are complex, but on the whole I'm in favor of them.)
This particular seal was damn difficult to open by hand, and so I had to use a knife to cut the perforations around the bottom of the cap. Annoying, because isn't the screw cap supposed to make getting to the good stuff a snap? I enjoy the cork-pulling ritual, but no longer needing to carry a toolkit to get to your wine is part of the point in leaving cork behind.
So, I poured. Now, the gentleman at the shop had warned me to let this wine breathe for an hour before drinking. So I had fair warning that it wasn't at its best 3 seconds after opening. Still, the smell of sulfur really frustrated me. (It wasn't a good sign, and I'd been really looking forward to this bottle.) Beyond that, the wine smelled a bit harsh or coarse, and too alcoholic. (The label says 13.5%, which sounds reasonable, but I could swear the alcohol level seems higher.) So, worried about what would happened next, I resolved to wait an hour and give the wine a fair shot.
It's very clear, and a deep ruby color. The nose: honestly, there wasn't much to smell aside from the alcohol, tannin and a just a little bit of vanilla and berries. It's indistinct, kind of muddled. Tasting, there's a lot more tannin and spice than I expect in a pinot noir (and maybe my expectations are incorrect! but if you'd told me this was a syrah, I'd believe you), and the tannin itself is, well, harsh. I like a chewy red, but this is more acrid. Even a little acrid edge I can enjoy, but this... maybe it's the sulfur I smelled at the beginning that put me off, but I think of the smoke of a match that's just been put out. Not bad entirely, but not really what I was looking for in my wine. Let me put it this way... my eyes were burning, kind of the way they do when you chop onions. I want to like this wine, and it's got its decent qualities, but it's kind of unbalanced. It has a nice syrupy medium-to-full body mouthfeel, and there are tantalizing hints of vanilla and berries in the middle of all the rough and sharp edges. The finish is spicy, earthy and very herbaceous. It's not without it's good side.
So, why is this wine the way it is? Well, I wish I knew... I have to admit the ignorance of a young wine drinker here, but I'll hazard a few gueses. Maybe the wine needs more age to soften it up? I did notice that there is a ring of very tiny bubbles around the edge of the liquid against the glass. After 3 years in the bottle, there can't be any fermentation still happening, can there? Maybe the source of the sulfur smell was some kind of yeast issue? Reading some of the good reviews of this wine, I feel expecially terrible for not liking it all that much. Maybe it just needs the right food pairing to take the edge off.
This web page mentions causes of both sulfur problems and carbonation issues. Perhaps these are some of the issues with this bottle. (Or maybe this is all in my head, and I'm just not a pinot noir fan?) Wine is so subjective, and even more so when you're inexperienced. I wish I could just pay for the bottle and then open it in the store and share it with the wonderfully knowledgeable owner. Ah, that would be a fun afternoon...
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home