Tonight we decided to have some Wooing Tree Pinot Noir with one of the first Vacherin Mont d’Or’s of the season, the match was terrible, but I’ll tell you about the wine first before we get onto the cheese and silly video.
Wooing Tree Pinot Noir 2009 is a top-flight New Zealand Pinot from the Central Otago region. The winemaker learned his arts in Burgundy, only he uses cunning tricks like using clean barrels. He uses tricks that are cunning to New Zealand in that he plants on Phyloxera resistant root stocks so his vines have some age and, unlike most New Zealand vineyards, they are not ripped up and re-planted every few years as some kind of elaborate insurance scam.
The Wooing Tree Pinot Noir itself was deliciously fruity, not overblown or overt, but deep and complex. There was a sense of earthy complexity to the nose to. It smelled like really good village-level Burgundy. The palate had more of that lovely, deep fruit, a taut tannic structure and a decent amount of acidity. The oak level in it is what I approve of (around 30% new) which adds complexity without overwhelming and the alcohol level was perfectly in balance. It was quite delicious and well worth the best part of thirty notes we dropped on it. You can get it here.
The Vacherin Mont d’Or was delicious but not a patch on Winslade.
Finally, for those who like a bit of silliness The Editor decided to film me having my first sniff. I put it on Instagram but I reproduce it here for your amusement.
on quickie.tumblr.com: http://quickie.elitistreview.com/post/63667113564
