Recently while I was taking some clients through the Villa Maria Estate Winery, I was offered a taste of a 2006
Seddon Single Vineyard Reserve Pinot Noir. It's certainly one of the
most complex and savoury Pinot's I've tried from Marlborough and it
really shows the depth of viticultral and vineyard resources they have to produce a magnificent wine like this.
Fortunately I managed to secure the last 2 bottles
which I've yet to pickup. I think I will drink them with some
magnificent lamb dish. I'll choose my friends carefully, these wines are
unctuous savoury wild cherry with hints of chewy savoury bacon. It's
flawlessly integrated with layers of dark plum & strawberry
interwoven by a gamy subtle earthiness.
The tannins and texture are
velvety. It's clearly had the works, hand harvested. 14 months in French
oak 25% new. It's stunning, and although I enjoy wines that are
neither filtered nor fined, the minimal filtrating and eggwhite fining
this wine has received make it a stunning world class Pinot Noir that
will continue to improve with age. They'll become even more complex with
another year or two in the bottle. I can't wait to drink them both!
On a lighter note you can buy Mudhouse Central Otago Estate Single
Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009 at Pak n Save for $19.99.. It's a blue Gold
medal winnner (that's a Sydney wine competion where the wines are judged
for their abilty to be matched with food.) That's definitely
outstanding value, it's exceptionally good at that price.
I also tried the Seifried Nelson Chardonnay 2009 last night. It's creamy
citrus peach and just a hint of oak. I drink all my chardonnays at room
temperature. This one was very easy drinking although considerably less
weighty than I prefer. There's something about Nelson that makes great
wines. I liked it at 14% alc, and the alcohol didn't show through so
it's a very well made wine. It was a bargain at just $11.98 at Countdown