On Wednesday, October 7th we held our second and highly successful pinot noir challenge within three weeks. This time the challenge was issued by Martinborough which 'took-on' Waipara which had previously beaten-off the challenge of Central Otago.
As with a our previous tasting, this one was conducted blind and again we served seven flights of wines of similar price points. Each flight represented a pinot noir from each of the two regions. The flights were the same vintages where possible but if not the same vintage they were wines currently available on shop shelves. It was more difficult to get same vintages in this challenge as we used a completely 'new set' of Waipara wines than the ones used against Central Otago.
We did have some problems as Vynfields Reserve 2007 did not arrive in time for the event and the Ata Rangi was the 2008 and not the 2007 as we had been told. The Waipara tag was again extended to Waipara/Canterbury because Waipara is actually quite a small area and Waiarapa is included as part of Martinborough for the purposes of this tasting.
We had 42 tasters compared to the 43 tasters at the previous tasting and this included our two Wine Judges Terry Copeland and Danny Schuster, and yours truly. Only one taster didn't show. Again, I was the only person who knew the identity of the wines; I concealed the wines by removing the coloured capsules and bagging up the bottles, etc. Every taster judged the wines from identical Spiegelau glasses and were asked to score the wines based on the simple 'Steven Spurrier' scoring system shown below. A scrutineer was appointed at each table and that person was asked to ensure that no table discussion on the wines took place until each taster had placed their score. This was to ensure that each score was the taster's own, and wasn't influenced by others.
After the scores were made, our two judges then gave their views and scores on the respective wines before I revealed their labels. This time we had a total of four winemakers in the room, each of whom had wines represented in the tasting. Only one of the winemakers claimed to have picked his own wine.
Once again, the wines we used were basically selected from wines that are on the shelf at Hemingway with one or two exceptions. Only three of the 14 wines were under cork, the remainder being under stelvin closures. If we'd had Dry River to use we may have matched it against Pegasus Bay Prima Donna but alas, the Dry River lived up to it's name - the trickle had dried up. Our top scoring wine was the Muddy Water 'Slow Hand' Pinot Noir 2007 which clocked up 790points including 10 tasters who awarded it the perfect score of 20 out of 20.
The result was again very close with Waipara defeating Martinborough by 5,050 points (16.78 average) to 4,947pts (16.43 av.). This was a corrected score allowing for the 42 tasters against 43 at the previous tasting. On the score of flights it was more decisive: Waipara 6 Martinborough 1. In the previous tasting Waipara prevailed over Central Otago by 5,023pts to 4,914pts.
There is a very consistent quality of wines coming from Waipara as was evidenced from the scoring. Remember, we used a completely different set of Waipara wines and they outscored the first set, albeit only marginally. By the same token the Martinborough wines were excellent across the board and the overall standard is a long way in advance of where NZ pinot noir was three or four years ago. Things have changed and the progress has been very rapid and the average consumer is now much more discerning which translates into an evolving demand for increased quality. Famous French taster Emile Peynard said: "The wine you drink is the wine you deserve." which in effect meant the quality of wine made is always determined by the market - as the demand for better quality wines increases the winemakers will oblige.
At the previous tasting our two judges Danny Schuster and Terry Copeland were largely at odds with each other in their assessments. But in this tasting they agreed on nearly all occasions. Danny picked every wine correctly for region and Terry sat on the fence on one flight and eventually swayed the wrong way to get six correct from seven. Both Danny and Terry gave superb, eloquent, analytical assessments of all the wines which spellbound all our tasters and kept the show going to well after 9.30pm. We didn't serve any bread and cheese for fear of palate interference so most tasters left Eliza's 'famished.' Next time we'll serve the cheese at 6pm while we wait for the inevitable late-comers.
To throw Danny off the scent I told him we weren't using his Twin Vineyard 2008 but then used it in the second flight. He didn't pick it, naturally, but praised it anyway.
This was a highly entertaining and enjoyable tasting although it carried on for too long with the format and number of wines to taste. Next time we may reduce the flights from 7 to 6. From the floor there was a request to do a similar tasting for Riesling. About two-thirds of attendees said they would be interested in attending so we're considering a blind tasting of Riesling in November - perhaps Waipara Vs Marlborough. Watch this space!
Now check out the results:
