New Zealand Pinot and Sauvignon

New Zealand sauvignon blanc—especially from Marlborough—had already imprinted itself on the international wino’s consciousness by the mid-‘90s, but back then New Zealand pinot noir was just getting started. In fact, even seven or eight years ago there were barely a handful of pinots available in the U.S. that could be compared to serious wines from Burgundy in complexity, texture and depth—or even, for that matter, to the best examples from Oregon and California. Today, retail shelves are awash with seriously good choices from New Zealand: the number of impressive wines has skyrocketed, and American importers have done a better job of ferreting out the good stuff. And, clearly, the best is yet to come for pinot noir from New Zealand, as the country’s high percentage of young vines matures.

Central Otago has exploded onto the world pinot scene in recent years, and promising producers are emerging with every new crop of grapes. It’s here, in New Zealand’s most continental growing region, that you’ll find comparatively powerful, intense pinots with deep colors, rich dark fruit flavors, and enticing floral and mineral lift. The best of these wines offer fruit aromas and flavors as close to those of the Côte de Nuits as any non-Burgundies get, with the possible exception of some pinots from the Sonoma Coast. Martinborough, a region with a longer history of producing high-quality pinot, yields more obviously soil-driven wines with dominant spice, mocha, earth and musky underbrush notes—again, often in a style I can only describe as Burgundian. To my palate, the best New Zealand pinot of all might be a hypothetical blend of these two styles. But more recently, the top producers in Central Otago have begun to buttress their pure pinot flavors with more complexity of terroir, while some in Martinborough are managing to get and retain deep primary fruit character to go with the smoke, spice and earth tones. And as the vines mature, New Zealand’s pinots can only gain in nuance and depth.