My day to day job, in addition to my interest in wines provided me with up to date information on wine styles, trends and 'best buys' - a kind of finger on the pulse if you were.
I buy my wine nowadays from on-line sellers and when supermarkets have deep-cut specials. Generally I stick with styles, brands and wines that I have experience with and a knowledge of their history. If there is a wine that I don't know I often do a little bit of research on it before committing to buy any volume - normally a 6 or 12 bottle case.
Sometimes (rarely) I call in to a good retailer to browse the shelves and to seek out something new. In these instances I don't have immediate access to information and have to rely on a knowledgeable shop assistant. Last year when doing this I bought a selection of wines including a bottle of Nelson Pinot Noir - GREENHOUGH 2016.
The shop assistant recommended this wine after I mentioned that with New Zealand pinot noir my first preference for region is Waipara followed by Martinborough and then Central Otago with Marlborough being fourth. He recommended this Nelson wine "as having the best characteristics of the other regions". In my working career I was familiar with the wines of Nelson having travelled there a lot, bought wines in bulk and marketed some. In recent times though I've fallen out of touch with them and so had no immediate experience other than a glass or two of the excellent Neudorf pinots in wine bars or restaurants. I accepted the shop assistants recommendation and bought a bottle for I think just under $30. It sat in the cellar until we opened it and tried it yesterday.
The wine company has this to say about the wine:
Attractively aromatic. Summer berry-fruits, citrusy, floral notes and a lightly spiced, herbal fragrance. Suggestive of the outdoors. Earth, mushroom notes evolve as the wine opens in the glass. The palate is vibrant and brightly red-fruited with a light spicy savouriness and supple structure of well-bound tannins. There is a depth in the exotic guava and quince which have a secondary, preserve-like richness. A refreshing plum-skin tanginess and chalky, minerality balance these ripper flavours.The retailer said this:
Impressively structured, the fruit washes over the palate in layers, moving from initial blackberry and dark plum, to slightly brighter strawberry and rose petal characters. All the while, the toasty oak and savouriness holds everything all together. A complex wine that offers unheard of value for money, this is Pinot Noir that any enthusiast should be looking to get their hands on.
Well, our finding was that while some of the words that both the producer and the retailer used to describe the wine fit, not all of them in combination do.
We agree on words like:
- lightly spiced
- Earth, mushroom notes
- savouriness (both used this)
Words that we totally disagreed with - actually most of them but here a few highlights:
- Attractively aromatic
- The palate is vibrant
- 'ripper' flavours
- Impressively structured
- Complex wine
- Unheard of value for money
The wine is light, dry and savoury (meaning that the fruit has somehow been leeched out) and there us no real substance to it. My feeling is that it could do with having a 2018 vintage cheap red added to it to give it a bit of a kick. I'm glad that I only bought one bottle.
Intrigued to see if any one else felt this way I did an internet search on Greenhough Pinot Noir 2016
and, amongst other retailers' glowing accolades found a couple of consumer comments on the VIVINO site. https://www.vivino.com/greenhough-pinot-noir/w/1319204?year=2016
"Pinot Noir. A simple quote lightly weighted Pinot. Red fruited, fresh and delicate. A luncheon weight wine that would probably do the job of a rose only better".
"The fresh red cherries and some crushed thyme on the nose is the best thing about it. Very light in style, it soon falls apart in the mouth and doesn’t quite live up to it’s scented promise. There is another kick of peppery spice on the finish that brings it around a little and it does have good acidity. Maybe letting this one rest a little longer will do it some justice, but it’s not for long-term in the cellar".
Yes, I agree with these.
This confirms my belief that it's a case of caveat emptor out there and it doesn't often pay to listen to a retailer or to read winewriter reviews - particularly those endorsed by the retailer selling the wine or the producer promoting it. Good old reliable wine competition accolades are a better bet. The best? Trying it yourself. Empirical knowledge.
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