Ignore the stratospheric sums charged for Côte d’Or red burgundy and plump for the next best, reasonably priced thing: Kiwi pinot noir. Nowhere else in the world produces such a range of classic pinot noir flavours at keen prices, from delicate, floral rose-petal charmers through crunchy red berry fruit on to darker, black-fruited styles, with truffle, earth and spices to the fore.
In the new world, California’s costly pinot noirs are riper and sweeter, though the cool Sonoma coast and, further north, Oregon’s finest get my thumbs-up. Given South Africa’s heat and dust, pinots there rarely hit the spot, and Australia’s winemakers also struggle in the heat, though the best from the Adelaide Hills, Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula do seduce. Chile’s cheap, savoury-sweet pinots, led by Cono Sur, do work, but higher up the scale it’s somehow still a work in progress. The same could also be said for much of the cooler European competition.
It’s all to do with climate and terroir. For the most part, New Zealand’s cool, temperate, maritime-influenced climate, with no vineyard more than 70 miles from the coast, is ideal pinot noir country. The west and deep south coasts are too wet for vines and the subtropical, humid extreme north isn’t ideal either. Never mind — the five leading, cooler, more southerly pinot noir regions more than make up.
Start at the southern end of the north island in windy Wairarapa’s cool, dry, Burgundian climate where the free-draining gravel soil of Martinborough, in particular, produces authentic, dark, savoury pinot noir — try the Escarpment star buy.
Hop down to the south island and Marlborough, New Zealand’s sunniest spot, where top clay soils are home to rafts of vibrant, fleshy red berry and cherry pinots. Take your pick from Villa Maria’s tangy, leafy, mocha-edged 2022 Private Bin Pinot Noir (Waitrose, £12.99). Or trade up to one of my favourite Seresin pinots: the 2023 Rachel is bursting with smoky, toasty, umami fruit (Booths, £21, down from £26.75). Unsung Nelson, Marlborough’s western neighbour, is another great source producing characterful, spiced-plum pinots.
If I had to pick areas to watch, it would be further south still. Canterbury, Marlborough’s southern neighbour, is a long, thin region that fans out and around Christchurch, the south island’s capital, and the best clay and limestone soils here produce effortlessly Burgundian pinot noir. Asda’s French oak aged, woodsmoke and sweet tobacco 2023 Exceptional New Zealand Pinot Noir (£10.47, down from £11.25) is a cracker. Central Otago is the world’s most southerly wine region and the intense, silky, perfumed pinots here are a must-buy. Try Kelly Washington’s lively, fat, smoky, dried strawberry 2022 star (thewinesociety.com, £29) — it’s almost a tenner more elsewhere.
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From left: Te Kano Landwalker; Makaraka Marlborough; Grove Mill Marlborough; Escarpment
Kiwi stars
2023 Grove Mill Marlborough Pinot Noir
13.5 per cent, thewinesociety.com, £13.50
Dusky, smoky, dark cherry-licked, big food-friendly pinot from a brilliant value Marlborough estate.
2022 Makaraka Marlborough Pinot Noir
12.5 per cent, Aldi, £9.99
A steal of a light, leafy, floral, red berry and cedar-scented pinot — see you in the Aldi queue.
2023 Te Kano Landwalker Pinot Noir, Central Otago
13.5 per cent, davywine.co.uk, £32, down from £40
Classy, oaky-smoky pinot noir from way down south, with masses of rich, silky, tobacco leaf and creosote fruit.
2021 Escarpment Pinot Noir, Martinborough
13 per cent, Tesco, £26
Juicy truffle and cranberry-stashed, French oak barrique-aged pinot from the estate’s windy home plot.
From left: Pinot Grigio delle Venezia; Definition by Majestic Albariño; Sorcova Feteasca Regala; Capeography Co Chenin Blanc
This week’s best buys
2023 Sorcova Feteasca Regala, Romania
11.5 per cent, Waitrose, £5.99, down from £8.99
Fed up with the same old whites? Lap up Romania’s unoaked, exotic, zingy, citrussy feteasca regala grape instead.
2023 Definition by Majestic Albariño, Rías Baixas, Spain
12 per cent, Majestic, £14.99
Sweetly fruited albariño from Adegas Galegas, a sister winery of Martín Códax, with vibrant lemon zest charm.
2024 Capeography Co Chenin Blanc, South Africa
13.5 per cent, Morrisons, £10
Handy briefly French oak-fermented and matured, fat, peachy, richly-fruited winter-into-spring, old vine white.
2023 Pinot Grigio delle Venezia, Italy
12 per cent, Lidl, £7.49
A better bottle of ever-popular pinot grigio with lashings of lively, grapey yet dry aniseed-spiked fruit.