11 July 2007

Auckland Pinotage's Amazing Longevity

New Zealander Paul Sharp came across this bottle of Coopers Creek * 1982 Pinot Noir - Pinotage.

"Hopes were certainly not high amongst those present," he writes, "yet I was very confident mainly due to the Pinotage component. The much-maligned variety seems to have amazing longevity particularly in wines from around the Auckland area within New Zealand.
While not an outstanding wine, it held together convincingly throughout 20 minutes in the glass and never threatened to disintegrate. Flavours and aromas were olive and herbal notes but beyond that it was really quite nondescript. However the palate was smooth and full and rather pleasant.

All in all quite a surprise from a 25 year old bottle that would not be considered an aging wine."


I have little experience of NZ Pinotage and none at all of old ones, and I am intrigued to learn that Auckland's Pinotages have a reputation for longevity.

Paul Sharp is founder-director of Global Wine Consultants Ltd, based in Auckland, New Zealand.


The above review and photograph come from Paul's blog at www.wineconsultant.co.nz and are reproduced here with his kind permission.

*Coopers Creek have achieved fame recently as the producer of the very popular Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry Bush Sauvignon Blanc -- one of the labels featured in my book.




1 comment:

  1. Anonymous14:32

    Many thanks, Peter, for this fascinating note. I think it proves again that when a grape variety is maligned it nonetheless pays to have one's independent experiences and opinion. As you know, Marechal Foch is similarly maligned - yet just a few years back it was noted in an article that examples of Inniskillin's inaugural 1974 Foch, assuming proper storage, were still alive. At NiagaraCool '05 we also had 1978 Chancellor that had developed a lovely bouquet of toast (pain grillé) and raisins and still held its structure. And it could be said that none of these wines were meant to be laid away for over two decades - yet they held up.

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