NZ Pinot Beats Burgundy

A wine-tasting of international Pinot Noir – 18 wines from six different regions, including Burgundy – by more than 100 experts has seen New Zealand deemed best by value. Influential business magazine Forbes positively gushed about Kiwi Pinot Noir in a lengthy feature article that deemed the New Zealand varietal a worth challenger to Pinot royalty, Burgundy.

Asia Pacific correspondent Katie Kelly Bell even opined that Pinot reflected the personality of New Zealanders: “Approachable, contemplative (without being weirdly cerebral) and refined in an honest simple way, much like Kiwis themselves”.

While Burgundy’s Chateau de la Tour Clos Vougeot 2010 and the Henri Boillot Clos Vougeot 2010 both earned the expected stellar reviews from tasters, the price tags of US$160 and US$175, respectively, had some gagging.

But the New Zealand wines, Bell reports, consistently topped most tasters’ lists, particularly the Cloudy Bay Te Wahi Central Otago 2010 (“a world class ballerina with a stiff left hook”) at US$75 and the US$40 Black Estate pinot from the Waipara Valley, Canterbury.

“Burgundy made an indisputably lovely showing but when considering value, well, the numbers don’t lie,” was Bell’s verdict.