Vavasour, Awatere Valley, Marlborough, 2011

Tasting: Marlborough Pinot Noir

Lean, herbaceous style, with a whiff of tar; some upfront floral spice and taut red fruit. Quite firm backbone of acidty and lacks a little ripeness.

Tasting: Marlborough Pinot Noir

Rose perfume on nose opens to ripe, plummy fruit with nice seasoning of spicy oak. Palate trails away to a weak, rather flat finsih. Balance is let down by the warm alcohol, leaving tannins feeling grainy, and finish hot.

Tasting: Marlborough Pinot Noir

Not much on nose, but the glass has a slighty dusty taint. Ripe, concentrated black-cherry fruit palate, with freshening acidity, a firm structure and quite a weight of chocolaty oak. A big wine, not especially elegant, with slight heat on the finish.