Matua Regional Series Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008

05 September 2011

I bought the last bottle of Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008 when I visited Matua Valley Wines yesterday. The new 2009 vintage has just been released. Given the price - around $25 at the cellar door I was impressed.

As a rule I like a few years in the bottle for Pinot Noir, to give the sweet fruitiness that so often comes as part of the package some time to mature and bring out the lovely secondary ageing characteristics and aromas that make this wine such a great food match.

It was light as Pinot's go from Central, where the traditional darker colour usually associated with this variety is a standard give-away on visual inspection. The palate was incredibly soft and overall it had a silken texture with velvety fine well integrated tannins giving the wine a great mouth feel. It had very good length. The flavours were more of plums, blackberry and cassis and not so much of the black cherry characters that are so often found from Pinots around Central Otago. In a nutshell it was superb and exceeded my expectation in terms of softness and balance.

I paired it up with a some Beef Bourguigon I had prepared earlier in the day. While delicious,  I still believe Lamb makes a better accompaniment to the worlds most seductive red variety than beef. It is the subtle gamy nuances of lamb, mutton and other game food dishes like duck, pheasant, quail, rabbit and venison that really bring out the best in a good Pinot Noir.

Tags: PinotNoir , Matua