Cloudy Bay, Te Wahi和著名Pinot Noir矇瓶試飲

兩輪矇瓶試飲 的結果大致相近:四支裡面,一支果很濃,感覺很熱,桶較重,帶爆谷雲尼拿味;另外有一支果味較收斂,較強的花香,酸度高,口感和礦物味複雜。於是我便推斷前者不是美國便是澳洲,而後者則是法國的burgundy 。餘下的則是介乎兩者之間。

它們就是2010及2014兩個年份Cloudy Bay和Te Wahi,兩者皆為以為果味為主導,一貫紐西蘭的Pinot Noir 風格,不過Te Wahi的酒體,包括果味,桶味和單寧也比普通Cloudy Bay強,而且糅正合得相當平衡。

兩個年份比較起來更見到此酒陳年後的結果,果力和單寧收斂,突出了 香料味和礦物味,情況在Te Wahi 尤其明顯,可見這來自Central Otago 的 Pinot Noir 有其陳年的潛力,而且見到Cloudy Bay 造Pinot Noir的質素漸見成熟,看來很快便可以與他們的Sauvignon Blanc 看齊。

2014年認識Jim White 的時候,是來介紹 Cloudy Bay Te Koko Sauvignon Blanc,兩年後再來是Cloudy Bay 在Central Otago 造的Pinot Noir Te Wahi 2014。多得他邀請我出席了他主持的Pinot Noir 盲品。已知的是有Burgundy,澳洲及美國的Pinot Noir,詳情稍後詳述。

Two flights of blind tasting tasting’s, four bottles each, , knowing that the wines might come from America, Australia, Burgundy and “Cloudy Bay” .

Very interesting line-up and also the result: Found American/Australian Pinot with their full body, oak flavour, also the medium to high alcohol and tannin.

The wines which are the most elegant, full of fragrant, minerals and complexity was the Burgundy one. The remainings were somewhere in the middle.

Unlike the Cloud Bay Pinot Noir that i tasted few years ago, the new vintages seems catching up on it’s complexity and intensity, especially for the Te Wahi.

This Central Otago Pinot Noir is more powerful with excellent balance on palate, demonstrated great aging potential when we compare the 2010 and 2014 vintage.

Flight 1
Cloudy Bay 2014
Cloudy Bay 2010
Bass Philip Premium Pinot Noir 2013
Meo Camuzet Corton Les Perrieres (Vos-Romanee) 2011

Flight 2
Cloudy Bay Te Wahi 2014
Cloudy Bay Te Wahi 2010
The Beaux Freres Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013
Olivier Bernstein Chambertin Clos-de-Beze 2011

First Met Jim White, the Viticulturist of Cloud Bay in 2014, when he came to Hong Kong for the Te Koko Sauvignon Blanc.

Two years later he came for the Te Wahi Pinot Noir 2014, which is a Cloudy Bay’s vineyard in Central Otago.

Thanks Jim for inviting me to join the blind tasting hosted by him, the clue of the blind tasting is that there would have American, Australia and Burgundian Pinot Noir. Stat tuned for this interesting tasting.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *