Consistently among the top three Pinots in Nelson, the Finns’ best cuvée comes from the famous Moutere clays and tends to be quite a structured red, showing more tannin than many Kiwi Pinots, as well as backbone and acidity. It’s a thinking person’s Pinot that needs food to show at its best. Ambitious, cherrystone, pomegranate and raspberry fruit with a firm finish.
October Wine reviews
26 October 20142011 Falua, Terius, Touriga Nacional, Tejo
( £8, 13.5%, Marks & Spencer )The Tejo is not the first place you’d go in search of Touriga Nacional (a grape that’s more often associated with the Douro and Dão), but this is excellent value and packs a real punch at the price. Full bodied, firm and concentrated, it’s floral and perfumed with appealing balckberry fruit and good underlying structure, relying on fruit rather than oak for its appeal.
2012 Kusuda, Pinot Noir, Martinborough
( N/A, 13.5%, Hallowed Ground )Is this New Zealand’s best Pinot Noir? It’s certainly in the top half dozen examples of the grape, a wine that nods towards Chambolle-Musigny as much as its native North Island. It’s a subtle, fragrant red with silky tannins, sustaining acidity, chalky minerality and a stylishly judged balance of oak, fruit and tannin. Winemaking of a high order.
2013 La Bodega de los Altos Andes Malbec, Mendoza
( £4.99, 13.5%, Morrisons )Excellent value at less than a fiver, this is a savoury, peppery Mendoza Malbec with good acidity, no obvious oak and attractive plum and bramble fruit. Ligther fresher and – crucially – drier than many commercial Argentinean reds.
2013 Seresin, Osip Pinot Noir, Marlborough
( N/A, 13.5% )Sourced from the Osip block in Seresin’s Raupo Creek Block, this biodynamically farmed Pinot Noir is a superb expression of its terroir: savoury and stylish with textured, supple tannins, deftly handled oak, bright acidity and remarkable depth and length. Still young, but will develop with age.
2010 McGuigan, Hand Made Shiraz, Langhorne Creek, South Australia
( £25, 14.5%, Tesco Wine Online )A dense, inky, youthful Aussie Shiraz from the increasingly impressive Langhorne Creek region. Plush, lush, ripe and aromatic, it’s rich and supple, with mocha oak, smooth blackberry and vanilla cream flavours and a firm backbone of tannin.
2013 Longaví, Sauvignon Blanc, Leyda Valley
( N/A, 12%, Bancroft Wines )A joint venture between J Bouchon of Chile and South African Sauvignon specialist, David Nieuwoudt, this is a wine that lives up t its pre-release hype. Creamy, goosberry and nettley fruit with bags of texture and tangy acidity and a long, elegantly tropical finish with a touch of sweetness.
2011 Paul Bertrand, Crocus, Malbec, Cahors, South West France
( £34.99, 14.5%, The Vineking )What do you get when you cross Paul Hobbs, one of the leading New World wine consultants and a man who makes his own wines in Argetina, with a Frenchman producing wine in Cahors? The answer is something pretty special, a rich, ripe, but well balanced Malbec that sits midway between France and Argentina in style, with some of the perfume and plushness of the former and the structure of the latter. Inky, floral and refined with notes of plum and black cherry and sweet oak.
2010 McGuigan, No 3471 The Shortlist Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, South Australia
( £15, 13%, Tesco Wine Online )Grassy, elegant and perfumed, this is a lighter style of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, showing notes of graphite, mint and green pepper and refreshing acidity supported by fine tannins. Not a wine to keep, but enjoyable to drink over the next couple of years.
NV Chapel Down, Vintage Reserve, Kent
( £20, 11.5% )A lees-aged blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier from innovative producer, Chapel Down, this is a well-priced English fizz that delivers in the glass. Toasty and malty with refreshing acidity and a dry, savoury finish, showing fine bubbles.
2013 Collefrisio, Vignaquadra, Abruzzo
( £13.50, 13.5%, Dvine Cellars )An impressive Pecorino from the Frisa hills of the Abruzzo, this shows that you don’t need wine to make a tasty white. Peachy and just off-dry, it’s got bags of flavour, bright acidity and a taut, minerally finish.
2012 McGuigan, No 1081 The Shortlist Riesling, Eden Valley, South Australia
( £15, 11.5%, Tesco Wine Online )Lime blossom-scented, toasty Eden Valley Riesling showing some enticing bottle development. Like the rest of The Shortlist range, this provides excellent value for money. Tangy and long on the palate, it’s a very pure, almost transparent expression of the grape.