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A hop over to Cairnmuir Road and we were soon tasting more wines, this time at Akarua. Most unexpectedly, we were seriously impressed with the 2005 Chardonnay. Quite worked, it nonetheless has a spine-tingling thrust of acidity on the palate that props up all the elements and allows the various fruit, lees, oak and malo notes to shine. A steal at $NZ25. Both Pinots were also very impressive. The 2006 Gullies is balanced for easy drinking but possesses some sophistication. The 2006 Cadence is just a lovely wine, powerful without being cumbersome, very much of its region, unforced and elegant. It had me wishing for extra money in the bank or, at least, more time to sit and enjoy it. Again, reasonable prices.

It was a relief to visit Bannock Brae Estate after a string of larger operations, for it is determinedly boutique. Four wines, all made in a relatively idiosyncratic style, and a friendly labrador to greet you at cellar door (which doubles as the residence of the owners). All very down to earth. The wines themselves, made by Olssens, are excellent. The 2007 Goldfields Riesling is made in a dry style, fermented in old oak barrels with some lees stirring. The result is a crisp, minerally, fascinatingly textured wine of considerable interest. The two Pinots are interesting. The 2006 Goldfields, another second label wine, is more serious than some of its “drink now” brethren, showing less voluptuousness of fruit and a relatively savoury flavour profile. The 2006 Barrel Selection is quite striking, and different from any other Pinot tasted on the day. Chris quite rightly identified a Nebbiolo-like flavour profile that shows elements of tar and rose petals. It’s almost entirely savoury and finely textured in its presentation. A real “detail” wine and one that was purchased on the day.

Our last stop in the Bannockburn sub-region was Carrick. Although the cellar door was crowded, we quickly tasted the Pinot and found it perhaps a little lacking compared to some of the elegant and individual wines just sampled. Certainly well-made, though.

Driving as quickly as possible through Cromwell to its light commercial heart reveals (quite unexpectedly, given the landscape) more wineries, including Rockburn. I tasted the current release Rockburn Pinot recently on Full Pour and, whilst I found it a pleasant wine, in the context of the day’s tastings its overly sweet flavour profile was more evident and less attractive. In fact, the whole Rockburn range seemed to aim for sweetness of one or other sort, and left us underwhelmed. In particular, the second label Pinot was clumsily oaked (using oak chips) and quite inferior to several other second labels tasted on the day.

Happily, we drove the hundred metres or so to the Central Otago Wine Company, which has an array of wines that piqued our interest. The Central Otago Wine Company, or CowCo for short, is a contract winemaking facility that makes wine for a range of producers across most sub-regions of Central Otago. Consequently, it’s possible to taste your way across the region quite easily. First up for us was the 2007 Sleeping Dogs Chardonnay which, frankly, is superb. A powerful wine, quite worked with vanilla oak, caramel, assertive lemon-like fruit and tingly acid. We were all in agreement on this one. Other wines were tasted, including a range of Pinots the highlight of which for me was probably the 2006 De Vine Pinot Noir, a sappy, acid-driven wine that refreshed my palate after a long day’s tasting. Although there’s romance associated with small wineries that “do it all,” it’s also valuable to have a top contract winemaking service availiable to small growers, and from a consumer’s perspective, I love being able to taste different vineyards’ expressions through the lens of top quality, “hands off” winemaking.  A long chat with the helpful lady at cellar door ensued after tasting had ended, fuelled no doubt by the very generous pours. What a great experience.

Before leaving Cromwell behind, we swung by Wooing Tree for a swirl through the range. A fun producer, this one. The 2008 Blondie (a still Blanc de Noir) and 2008 rosé are fun, fruity wines that don’t repell more contemplative tasting, though it should be said the entire range aims for hedonistic enjoyment more than anything else. The 2007 Beetle Juice Pinot Noir and 2007 Estate Pinot Noir are both luscious wines, fruit-driven in the most attractive manner. We nicknamed this producer Shagging Tree upon leaving, and with wines like these, why not? Totally seductive, and well priced too.

Our palates were a little tired at this stage, so we retired to the comfort and warmth of Amisfield. Though Amisfield is located close to Queenstown, most of its grapes are sourced from vineyards located in Cromwell. Quite a large range here, part of which we tasted with the assistance of refreshingly rambunctious cellar door staff. Whilst some of the wines were excellent, the main attraction for us here was dinner. Utterly unpretentious food with a focus on simple ingredients and flavours, excellent service and comfortable surrounds. It was a fabulous way to end the day.

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A couple of reflections to close:

• I’ve complained in the past about the price of good Central Otago Pinot Noir. No longer. Although there are many premium wines in the $NZ50+ price bracket, there’s now a large range of excellent wines in the $NZ20-40 range. CowCo on its own has several. If only more were exported to Australia.
• We often enjoyed second label Pinot Noirs more than their premium counterparts. Whilst this may be due to a balance that favours immediate consumption, it also has something to do with the tendency in many more expensive wines to mask the essential, highly attractive regional fruit character with excess oak, acidity and extract. Why hide what makes the region’s Pinots so distinctive and tasty? Indeed, in my opinion the best premiums placed their complex, savoury and delicious fruit on centre stage.
• On a more personal note, it really is excellent to taste with others, especially someone with a high level of vinous acuity like Chris. A pleasure from start to finish.

When one isn’t holidaying exclusively with wine in mind, it can be a challenge to balance the amount of time devoted to things vinous versus more generalised tourism, especially when one happens to pass through exciting wine regions. Chris and I have just finished travelling the southern-most tip of New Zealand’s South Island with our respective partners, and whilst a large amount of time was spent drinking, we limited our cellar door visits to a single, rather action-packed day in Central Otago. Here follows a brief summary (in two parts) of the day, with equally brief and, given the tasting format, somewhat rushed impressions. Unsurprisingly, our handwritten notes became less meaningful towards the end of the day.

After some uncharacteristically energetic heckling at the Kawarau Bridge bungy, we stopped at Peregrine right on opening hour (ten o’clock). It’s an impressive facility, with award-winning architecture and an abundance of landscaping. Looking at my notebook, I see scribbled in Dan’s handwriting: Julian needs to buy Dan a present.  A consistent, reasonably priced range of aromatic whites and Pinot Noirs. Standouts were the 2008 Pinot Gris, which is very flavoursome and not at all coarse, plus a correct and lightfooted 2008 Gewürztraminer. We enjoyed all three levels of Pinot, though I found the premium quite closed. The standard Pinot less so, however the current release (2007) is very young and brings with its age a degree of awkwardness. For drinking now, the second tier 2007 Saddleback is all one could wish for. Attractively fruit-driven, light-ish in body and quite delicious.

On to Gibbston Valley Wines, about which I choose to be concise. Aside from a distractingly Frass Canyon-like vibe at cellar door, the wines were uneven and, at worst, quite unappealing. We tried some charming Pinots from older vintages, though, which were gently glowing and talc-like in aroma (or was it the scented soaps?). We had tasted the 2006 Pinot at some length earlier in the week and agreed it is a very well made, correct wine.

Chard Farm, by contrast, was the ideal cellar door experience. Anyone who has visited this winery knows the winding road one takes to get there, and our risk-taking was amply rewarded by friendly, enthusiastic cellar door staff and, more importantly, an excellent range of wines. Chris nominated this as his favourite cellar door experience of the day, and it would be hard to disagree. All the wines tasted were worthwhile, even a fun, one-off 2005 vintage sparkling that is a little sweet for my taste but still enjoyable. Going from notes kindly penned by Dan, we especially enjoyed the 2008 Pinot Gris, which is firmly structured and flavoursome, with an especially interesting, velvety texture. Also a highlight amongst the whites is the 2006 Gewürztraminer, which for me was the best Gewürztraminer of the day: aromatic, tight and curiously herb-driven.

Chard Farm does at least four Pinot Noirs, starting with the 2007 River Run label at the low end. Very easy drinking, fruity and well finished. A step up brings us to the 2007 Finla Mor, which, although drinking well now, is a bigger wine all over. There’s greater density of fruit and quite chewy tannins, yet it retains an essentially fruit-driven character that makes for straightforward enjoyment. Two single vineyard wines from the 2006 vintage, The Tiger and The Viper, both excellent, are subtly different too. I loved the savouriness of these wines, and in terms of premium Pinots, they seemed less overwrought than some others tasted on the day. We left with several bottles.

On to Mount Difficulty for a brief cellar door tasting and a not so brief lunch. I wasn’t terribly fussed with the whites here (although the rosé was delicious). We had already done a detailed tasting of the 2007 Mount Difficulty Pinot by this stage in our travels. Initially, I found it quite acidic, though the quality of the fruit is evident immediately. Chris had less trouble with the structure and liked this wine from day one. We both agreed that, by day three, it had settled into a thing of luscious beauty, glowing with supple fruit. As an aside, you really can’t beat the view from this cellar door. Well worth a visit for that alone.

On to part 2 >>