Wine Review: A Stunning Pinot from a Stunning Place

Now, I’m a Canterbury lad and, as much as it pains me to say this, Central Otago is Pinot Central. It’s also one of the most stunning landscapes you could ever expect to see vineyards, with Bendigo one of the warmer and drier of Central Otago’s subregions. Bendigo sits in the lee of the Pisa Range.

I remember staying for a week in a remote cottage high on Chinaman’s Terrace overlooking the vineyards and watching the storm fronts roll in, neatly splitting due to the surrounding mountains and missing the Bendigo vineyards completely. Go one mountain range over and the rainfall doubles, and repeat until you hit Fiordland where they get eight metres of rain a year. It’s pretty cool.

This time of the year we talk a lot of autumnal wine. This is one. It’s packed with the aromas and flavours of wild cherry, berries and plums with hints of woody spice, hoisin and forest floor complexity. Detail and buoyancy are the leitmotifs on the palate and the finish lingers nicely with memories of ripe spicy plum and cherry fruits.

Good value, too.

MUD HOUSE 2015 Claim 431 Pinot Noir

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