Matthew Juke: The world best Pinot Noir come from New Zealand

Only three wineries were awarded 5 stars: „Ata Rangi“ (Martinborough), „Felten Road“ and „Mt. Schwierigkeitsgrad“ (Central Otago). „Bell Hill“, „Graggy Range“, „Dry River“, „Escarpment“ (received 5 stars last year), „Martinborough Vineyard“, „Pegasus Bay“, „Peregrine“, „Rippon“ and „Pyramid Valley“ were awarded with 4 stars. (Complete evaluation – see bottom link to website)

For two of the 4-star-candidates – Peregrine and Rippon – it was particularly hard, because they produce in Central Otago, a region on the south island, which is very popular for the growing of Pinot Noir-grapes and which experienced a huge amount of producers settling there in the hope for successful Pinot Noir-wines.

“After I had tasted some of the 2004-vintage and noticed that there was really not many excellent quality wines among them, I decided to make an extensive total tasting”, says Matthew Juke in an interview with Decanter. “The problem is that too many rich people invest in the wine-growing regions there and they want to produce expensive trophy-wines from young vines – that causes a lot of chaos”.

“The fact that New Zealand is capable of producing the best Pinot Noir wines is also because in some of the growing regions the geographic and climatic conditions are perfect and also it is important to notice that some of the producers have learned how to really take advantage of this situation and come up with the best results”, explains Jukes. In his annually published work “The 60 best wines of New Zealand”, the critic explains the features of the Pinot Noir's. He mentions “sophisticated” Pinot's, describes the “spicy” and best producers like Otago Vineyard, he talks about “tender” Pinot's of the Graggy Range Vineyard in Hawkes Bay or introduces the “muscle-leathery” of Dog Point Vineyard from the Wairau Valley (Marlborough).

In the course of the development of Pinot Noir-qualities from New Zealand, Jukes noticed that particularly the regions Martinborough and Marlborough turned out to be birth places of excellent Pinot's, which was already found at tastings in 2008, where five out of seven top Pinot Noir's came from these regions. “But there is also other growing regions that are really interesting – among them Waitaki Valley and also very competent North Otago”, says Matthew Jukes in an interview with Decanter. “Most importantly, the vines are of perfect health.” Jukes also adds: “About three years ago the producers were not as good as they thought they were, however, with the last vintage they definitely proved that they have made progress”. (aw.yoopress)