Wine Review - 2011 Kim Crawford Marlborough Pinot Noir: Atypical Kiwi Pinot

Another wine review and another apology. We were provided this wine by the team at National PR here in Halifax again almost two years ago.  Let's just say this wine has some time to bottle age.  So, thanks for the patience National PR team, we finally got to it.  It is $23 wine locally and very much a quality product when we have had it in the past.

On the nose we get a LOT of floral notes, with a nutty vanilla undertone.  That is followed up quickly with a very nice cherries dipped in milk chocolate bouquet and finishes with a faint smokiness. Overall, it is quite complex.

The look of this wine is in a word, light, and very typical of New Zealand Pinot Noir.  The transparency of the wine really shows your that it is Pinot Noir.  It has that c‎ranberry juice colour that normally comes with it.  As expected it is a thin wine on the swirl with quick legs.  Once again, typical.

The wine is light bodied on the palate but strangely enough it has more fruit and body than we are used to with Kiwi Pinot.  It is actually more like a California Pinot Noir than New Zealand.  This is most definitely atypical of Kiwi Pinot which is usually funky and exceptional.  This wine tastes great with really awesome strawberries but as opposed to what we could consider a normal tart strawberries, this wine has really ripe strawberries.  At first glance you would think that would be perfect but there is just not enough funk to our liking.  New Zealand Pinot Noir has made it's living on that funky flavour profile whereas California is the one with the really ripe and rich Pinot Noir.  So, not being that funky kind of throws us a bit.  It definitely tastes great for sure but it is just....different than we are used to.

	Tasting Notes:	Score:
Sight (0-5)	C‎ranberry juice colour and light/transparent quality that normally comes with it.  Thin wine on the swirl with quick legs.	4.25
Smell (0-5)	Complex with floral notes, nutty vanilla undertones, cherries dipped in milk chocolate with a finish of faint smokiness.	4.0
Taste (0-10)	Light bodied with ripe strawberries but not the typical funk that comes with NZ Pinot more like California.	8.0
	Total:	16.25 / 20 (81.25%)

We think the 2011 growing season may have been a hot one as the ripeness on those berries seems to have translated into a really atypical vintage for this style of wine.  Very tasty but different but not in a bad way.  Then again, maybe it was the extra couple of years in the bottle.

Keep on tasting!

Chris & Shannon