On Thursday 20th September we hosted a highly successful night at Eliza's with the Pinot Noir Challenge, Waipara Vs Central Otago.
This was a blind tasting in which we served seven flights of wines of similar price points. Each flight represented a pinot noir from each of the two regions. The first five flights were the same vintages whereas the last two flights differed. Central Otago as a region tends to release its wines a little earlier than Waipara and so in the higher priced wines it was difficult to come up with the same vintages. The 2006 vintage was a very good vintage for Waipara and its equivalent in Central was 2007 so we didn't see that as a problem for the final flight. The Waipara tag was extended to Waipara/Canterbury because Waipara is actually quite a small area compared to Central Otago which extends from Alexandra and Bendigo through Cromwell/Bannockburn to the Gibbston Valley and across to Wanaka. Having changed the rules slightly, the only wine we used that wasn't exclusively 'Waipara' was the Main Divide Canterbury 2008 which derived its grapes two-thirds from Waipara and one-third from Canterbury.
We had 43 tasters in total including myself and our two Wine Judges Terry Copeland and Danny Schuster. Twenty more tasters were on our waiting list. I was the only one 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. The tasting was a lot of entertainment for everyone and not designed to be taken too seriously although, as a consumer guide the results are quite interesting. The wines we used were randomly selected from large and small producers but selecting only seven wines from each region mean't that some of the big names were not presented. For example, Muddy Water from Waipara and Felton Road from Central were not represented in the tasting. We could easily do the tasting again using a different 14 wines and get a completely different result.
The result was very close with Waipara edging out Central Otago by 5,023pts to 4,914pts - a winning margin of just over 2%. The irony is that Central Otago Pinot Noir is preferred by the vast majority of both tourists and local consumers. At a guess I would say that for every buyer who enters this shop and asks for Pinot Noir by region there are 19 who want Central by reputation over a single buyer who will ask for Waipara. Central Otago definitely has lots of charisma and saleability by comparison - in three out of four years they host the Central Otago Pinot Noir Celebration which has become an international event. There is no equivalent for Waipara although Riesling is now celebrated in Waipara annually.
The overall quality of the wines was very good, I thought. In a short time both regions have come a long way, as has other regions, and there is better value-for-money in pinot noir now than ever before. The scoring system, rules and results are all shown below. Stylistically the regions throw up quite diverse pinots with the Central Otago emphasis leaning towards a lifted, perfumed bouquet with generous fruit forward on the palate. Conversely, Waipara tends towards a forest floor bouquet, less fruit forward on the palate but a firmer structure. That's my broad generalisation and in the end I guess it comes down to the style you individually prefer.
I have very little faith in the 'wine awards' dished out in big competitions in NZ. The judges taste up to 150 wines in a day, sometimes out of small XL5 tasting glasses which are totally useless as recepticles for making such judgements. They may as well use Vegemite jars. And given that one's palate starts to tire rapidly after a dozen wines, 150 is a preposterous number. What happens is the wines that are big, powerful and very fruity, stand out above any wines that have restraint, complexity and elegance because the ability to detect the latter qualities is lost on an overused palate. The same wines keep winning the awards because they are often made specially for them, or are monster wines. I have more faith in these results where the tasters are customers and the wines not entered.
Finally, on the subject of preference, our two esteemed judges Terry Copeland and Daniel Schuster were mostly at odds with each other on their scoring. Their views provided interesting contrasts remembering that both were tasting blind. Terry scored 4 flights to Central, 1 to Waipara and 2 even. Danny scored 4 to Waipara, 2 to Central and 1 even. Both are very experienced judges and it shows that in the end it's a very personal thing.
Now check out the results:
