Each was selected to be a strong, representative bottle of a top-flight pinot from their respective region. It was noted that for the U.S. entry, the very ripe style was not included, and instead wines that were made in a more Burgundian style were included. As the moderator stated, “these are not Robert Parker wines.” The wines were not tasted blind, and frankly I suspect this had some influence on the reactions of some of the panelists. (Halliday and Meadows Photos Mark Coote ©

 

L: Michel Bettane, James Halliday, Bob Campbell, Poh Tiong Ch’ng, Matthew Jukes, Allen Meadows
Photo Mark Coote ©

My notes on the wines, in the order presented:

2002 Arcadian, “Pisoni Vineyard” (Santa Lucia Highlands): Restrained fruit, bit of leather and some floral notes; smells fairly ripe. Bright cherry fruit palate, crisp acids, warm, medium body; clean, simple; lingering finish. Rather closed and restrained, but fairly good. Find this wine

2003 Au Bon Climat, “Knox Alexander” (Bien Nacido Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley): Riper with a slightly stewed element; deep cherry and a bit of a stemmy herbaceous quality. Ripe rich palate, more complexity, quite round and full bodied, some minerality and forest floor, good length. A more complete wine, and more interesting. Find this wine

2003 Cristom, “Louise Vineyard” (Willamette Valley, Oregon): Medium ripe fruit, slight medicinal/alcohol nose. Sharp, angular palate, slightly bitter; leaner style with some tannins, a bit hard, low fruit intensity but excellent structure, good length. This was essentially a hard wine that needs considerable time for the fruit to emerge, but not certain if there’s enough fruit to support the aging it needs. Could simply be shut down. Find this wine

2003 Escarpment, “Kupe” (Martinborough, NZ): Complex herbal fruit, quite open with some plums. Riper, friendlier style, quite forthcoming with decent balance and good fruit; slightly hard mid-palate with some acid poking out; a bit disjointed with some bitterness on the finish. Nice, simpler style wine; needs a year to integrate. Find this wine

2002 Nuits St. Georges, “Boudots”, 1er Cru, Jadot: Taut, crisp cherry fruit; clean, some ripeness, rather closed. Restrained palate but velvety and round; complex, some tannin, good balance, fruit very restrained, not much finish. Seems very young and in a shell at this point, but quite good and should age very well. Find this wine

2003 Mt. Difficulty, “Target Gully” (Central Otago, NZ): Riper, deeper; plummy with black fruits; complex nose. Quite rich palate, very good, deep fruit; fairly tannic, moderately ripe, excellent depth and balance, good long finish. Very complete wine with complexity and depth in a riper style, but not overripe or heavy-handed in any way. Find this wine

2003 Paringa Estate (Mornington Peninsula, Australia): Slightly candied nose with black fruit; deep, somewhat closed. Very ripe palate, plush and rich fruit, big warm style, soft, full bodied with decent balance; seems very ripe but not hot; good finish. Big ripe style of pinot; well-made, not much complexity. A wine to drink young. Find this wine

2003 Chambertin, Grand Cru, Domaine Rousseau: Very ripe, slightly roasted nose; deep and complex fruit. Soft entry followed by very deep, clean fruit that builds in the mouth; not overripe or roasted, quite rich, strong fruit but structure is apparent; round, long. Big ripe wine with depth and complexity; very young.  Find this wine

The comments of the panelists were interesting and, frankly, all over the map. For example, Michel Bettane sharply criticized the Arcadian, calling it “a poor wine, light, not interesting, no development, leathery”. However, the other panelists liked the wine better, although Allen Meadows stated that it was not a perfect example of the wine, perhaps it had suffered a bit during shipping (apparently it had arrived late, only a couple of days before beings served). Still, he liked the wine, stating that like many good pinots, it had “power without weight.” The ABC was also liked by most, although Bob Campbell thought it had a “hole in the middle.” Bettane liked the Cristom very much (he has written favorably about this winery in the past), as did Campbell, but Poh Tiong Chng did not, finding it dull, and Matthew Jukes felt was not as balanced as the other two American wines. Everyone liked the Mt. Difficulty, ranking it close to (although behind) the Chambertin in overall preference. The Escarpment was generally liked although not a standout, and the same was true of the Paringa. The Jadot was also controversial, with Bettane stating he thought it was a bad bottle, and Ch’ng finding it overextracted, but Jukes and Meadows liked it, although Meadows believed it was completely shut down. Everyone loved both the Mt. Difficulty and the Chambertin, with Bettane going so far as to call the Mt. Difficulty “great”, and indicative that the vineyard was a great terroir for pinot noir. Allen Meadows stated that the Chambertin “exceeded my expectations” in light of the very difficult vintage conditions in Burgundy in 2003. And indeed the wine did not show any adverse effects from the extreme heat, coming across as a typical top-notch Grand Cru from a “normal” year.

Overall I liked all of the wines quite a bit. My favorites were the Chambertin, Mt. Difficulty, Jadot, and the ABC, in roughly that order. Each one showed a great deal of character and depth, with complexity and plenty of room for development. The other four wines were good pinots, but seemed to be simpler and more straightforward, without the complexity and depth of the others, and are clearly ready to drink sooner. The most interesting aspect of this tasting, however, was that I think there were no clear distinctions to be made based upon the origin of the wines. Had the tasting been blind, I would not have much confidence that I could accurately pick out the French wines from the New Zealand, the U.S. wines from the Australian. In all of the wines, the pinot noir character of the wine overshadowed any regional or terroir-based distinctions. Perhaps with more bottle age, these differences would become more apparent. At the very least, the tasting demonstrated that New Zealand pinot noir deserves to be considered a strong player on the world stage. We can no longer use the term “New World” pinot to simply mean California and Oregon—New Zealand pinot is right there, and coming on strong. NEXT: Grand Tasting—Other Notable New Zealand Pinots

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Introduction | Terroir | 8 Great Producers | Pinots of the World | Other Notable Pinots | Conclusion