Faux Brahmin

Alright. So what did we think? Overall I liked it, this is new world Pinot Noir so it is getting to ‘drink now or forever hold your peace’ territory. I’m still working on a rating scale. I’m going to go with ‘Fairly Nice,’ as the score.

Rating Scale (under development). For reference, I think ‘Very Good’ will be the rating for award winning wines and ‘Fairly Nice’ will be one click down. Think 82-91 points. If that seems unenthusiastic, I do not really care. Our world is full of too many celebrations of ordinary stuff. You do not need a medal for delivery a Fairly Nice bottle of wine at a >$50 price point. For comparison, a Very Good bottle of wine should stay with me, have changed the essence of my soul.

This wine! Commentary.
[Ed note: this is on my dev plan to be monumentally improved. Helpful comments on this post are welcome. Unkind ones are also welcome but will be ignored.]
I liked it! Smelled strongly of stonefruit (cherries, etc). On the palate — Earthy notes, though somewhat more suppressed/subdued than in their other single vineyard offerings. Secondary notes of tobacco and some light oak. The body of the wine is relatively round, the alcohol doesn’t overpower. I would describe as medium/medium plus body and low acid. Sugars felt a touch high, and unintegrated for a 9 year old Pinot. I retried day 2 and more barnyard was coming out – day 2 funk was a surprise.

As for longevity, if this wine was a house it would have sagging structural beams but tons of charm. The stairs would be navigable, every room charmingly maintained. You would worry about the roof and the electrical giving out and destroying it at any moment.

Additional Commentary. Well, I was a bit fussed on whether to start with this posting. Gibbston Valley is indeed one of my favorite wineries (For scale, I’d put 20 or so on this list). Not because they’re the fanciest, or the highest notoriety producers on the face of the planet. No. They’re my favorite because they’re pretty unique drinking here in the United States. They do some blends of Pinot Noir, like this bottle, but they do these cultishly fun single vineyard offerings. A favorite of mine is this School House (that’s the vineyard) Pinot Noir. The grapes are from the Otago Valley, which I just looked up. Holy baloney is it beautiful. It’s been a while since I watched Lord of The Rings, but I’m beginning to doubt they needed very much in the way of CGI. Snow-capped mountains, mild climate on the step with good wind. That said, you’re in New Zealand. You are as far South as SOUTH GOES! That means enormously long summer days and the soil is also volcanically spectacular. With these powers combined you’re liable to get a juice bomb, but if you’re good at your craft you can also make something unique and wonderful. School house has deep barnyard funk to it. Mushrooms and sugar. It has such unique flavor for a Pinot Noir. It also has decidedly high alcohol content (14%+) which brings a whole adventure in and of itself.

Long story short, don’t sleep on Pinot Noir from NZ, especially Otago.