Virtuoso Life - September/October 2008 - (Page 69) The New Zealand wine community has been gradually honing its skills with another variety, this time a red wine. The new fixation is none other than the star of Burgundy and the movie Sideways, pinot noir. Known for its finicky nature, pinot noir won’t grow and make acceptable wine just anywhere. It requires well-drained soil in a cool climate, and New Zealand has both of these in abundance. As a result, remarkably good pinot noirs are coming from four different growing regions from the edge of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island. Here are the appellations to look for on your bottle of New Zealand pinot noir. Marlborough is a sea of green with scarcely enough room for roads. more complex and intense than the fruit of a very young vine. As a result, Martinborough pinots can be the most intricate and multifaceted of the Kiwi versions. SIP: Escarpment 2006 Pinot Noir ($43). Other outstanding Martinborough labels to look for include Ata Rangi, Dry River, Martinborough Vineyard, Palliser, Schubert, Te Kairanga, and the new Te Muna plantings of Craggy Range. STAY: Just south of Martinborough, close to are set on a 5,000-acre working farm and sheep station. The lodge offers hiking, riding, massages, a well-stocked wine cellar, and fine dining, and wine country is just a few minutes away. From approximate $467, including breakfast daily and a $75 credit toward an on-site activity. Martinborough The oldest plantings of pinot noir in New Zealand can be found in this lovely basin, situated an hour’s drive over the Rimutaka Range from the capital city of Wellington and just 20 miles inland from the sea. The first pinot vines were planted in 1979, so some of the vineyards are at least 25 years old. An older vine will produce fruit that is the shores of Palliser Bay, the 12 spacious cottages of Wharekauhau Country Estate Marlborough Half of all the wine produced in New Zealand comes from this large region. It includes the sizeable valley of the Wairau River and has spread, as the valley filled with vines, over the Wither Hills into the Awatere Valley to the south. More than half of what is grown in Marlborough is sauvignon blanc, which was originally planted there in 1973. Flying over the area, you can see that the valley is carpeted wall to wall with neat rows of vines. It is a sea of green with scarcely enough room for roads and wineries. The breakthrough wine for Marlborough was Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc, which rose to cult status in the mid-1980s after its introduction in the American and European
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