The pinot list
If the object of the exercise was to impress the 300 wine writers and others from around the world with the pinot noir that we produce, then Pinot Noir 2010, the symposium held in Wellington a couple of weeks, ago was a resounding success.
Just a pity that they could not somehow share with their thoughts with the people who drink these wines, or would like to, by rating the pinots, or the best of them, in some sort of order of preference and quality.
But not to worry. A couple of writers who have done a great deal more than simply taste the pinots paraded in Wellington and have done so now for a number of years, have done it for us.
Mathew Jukes, whose weekly column in London's Daily Mail is read by more than 9 million readers, and Tyson Stelzer, an Australian winewriter and author have just released the third of what they call their Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification.
It is not a classification of wine estates and vineyards based on that which talks of first and second growths, grand and premier crus whatever. This was drawn up by brokers in Bordeaux in 1855, and known as the Classed Growths of the Medoc.
Basically, it was a formalised list of the brokers' and the market's view of relative quality as expressed by the prices fetched by the individual estates' wines. And there has been only one change to the list in the past 155 years.
The Stelzer/Jukes model grew from a proposition put by Jukes in 2004 to Central Otago pinot producers.
He says it was born out of a desire to celebrate the better wines in the district and also to encourage newcomers to perform at the highest level. What he proposed was a classification based on a rolling average rating of the five most recent vintages. It was rejected by winemakers, apparently because it seemed to favour established producers, but on the quiet Jukes was encouraged by others in the industry to develop and broaden his plan.
Jukes and his Aussie mate published their first classification in the 2008 edition of their must-have wine/food guide, Taste Food and Wine (published by Wine Press) noting that "New Zealand pinot noir is no longer a case of the haves and the have-nots. There is now a hierarchy establishing itself. And it is moving quickly".
Hence the usefulness of some sort of classification to help the trade and consumers decide which are the finest producers of New Zealand pinot – bearing in mind that only 10 years ago there were only a handful of players and now there are 130-ish, of which around half make it on to the latest list.
Ad Feedback As Jukes says: "It quite simply showcases the excellence of the category and it is the first of its kind on the planet."
There are five levels in the classification (one to five stars) and selections are based on estate, not on single vineyard wines or special cuves. Italics indicate selection has been made on less than live vintages.
THE LATEST LIST
Five stars: Ata Rangi, Felton Road, Mt Difficulty.
Four stars: Bell Hill, Craggy Range, Dry River, Escarpment, Martinborough Vineyard, Pegasus Bay, Peregrine, Rippon, Pyramid Valley.
Three stars: Bald Hills, Cloudy Bay, Dog Point, Hinton Estate, Mount Edward, Mountford, Palliser Estate, Schubert, Two Paddocks, Valli, Villa Maria, Wither Hills.
Two stars:Amisfield, Auntsfield, Chard Farm, Gibbston Valley, Neudorf, Olssens, Quartz Reef, Rockburn, TerraVin, Voss, Alan McCorkindale, Envoy, Seresin.
One star:Alana, Carrick, Foxes Island, Gravitas, Huia, Hunter's, Kumeu River, Lowburn Ferry, Murdoch James, Nautilus, Pisa Range, Spy Valley, Te Kairanga, Blind River, Delta, Gladstone, Jackson, Johner Julicher Ma Maison, Mount Maude, Pond Paddock, Prophet's Rock Tarras, Te Whare Ra, The Ned, Vavasour, Wild Rock, Wooing Tree.