Tesco's Finest Central Otago Pinot Noir 2010 New Zealand

While at the Tesco's wine fair we sat in on a tasting run by Jane Parkinson - wine journalist who happens to write for Tesco's wine magazine amondst others.
The tasting was the many faces of Pinot, it included 3 Pinot Grigio's and 3 Pinot Noirs. The one real star for me, and first time tasting was Tesco's Finest Central Otago Pinot Noir 2010. I have tasted many Pinot's from New Zealand, the ones that have shone have been those from Martinborough ......( south of North Island, while Marlborough is north of South Island..... sort of opposite each other), the ones from Central Otago have been too angular and lacking in juicy fruits to balance the fresh acidity - well this one had the missing element for me!
There was fruit, animal nuance ( that so many of the New World Pinot's struggle with), there was elegance in abundance and a gentle fine grained meatiness sort of like salami. The tannins were low, ripe and silky, the alcohol really enrobing the cherry, salami, vegetal undergrowth..... A really well crafted wine - a delight, the cost £9.00 reduced from 11.94 - really good value I thought, its on my shopping list for Christmas!
Score : 88

Freemans Bay Pinot Noir 2011 from New Zealand

Freemans Bay Pinot Noir 2011 from both Marlborough and Central Otago in New Zealand, this wine comes from Aldi Supermarkets and at the price of £6.99 it is good value - where can you buy a Pinot from NZ for less that £10? New Zealand has 3 main Pint producing areas, Marlborough ( North end of South Island), Martinborough ( south end of North Island) and Central Otago ( near the south of South Island ), for me - I prefer Martinborough Pinot to the other 2, but Central Otago has a great reputation - I think watch this space.
Now onto the wine - is it good?  It is very, very pale and infact it could nearly be termed a Rose, but on the nose I would recognise it as a Pinot Noir, expressive strawberry, plum with a little vanilla and slightly vegetal, positive I thought. On the palate, good acidity, slightly spirity on the alcohol front ( it is 14%) and not well integrated - but it is young..... maybe with a little time it will integrate better. It has a silky texture, the body feels in the right place and sweet fruits come through beautifully as well as a little licquorice but an out of kilter bitter, nearly pithy finish, so this was the only minor disappointment and maybe this is due to oak usage which again may improve with age. Even so at the price - this is a good quaffing, party wine that will not let you down! And it is an IWSC silver medal winner - tasted blind by a large panel of wine experts - would they have awarded it the medal if they had not tasted it blind, Aldi labelling may have interferred with their judgement. But a cracking wine - BUY, BUY, BUY !