Jules Taylor Pinot Noir 2009

Okay so if I'm not mistaken, last week we did an Oregon pinot noir. Let's say we follow that up with a New Zealand pinot noir? I'd like to start this post off by saying that New Zealand wines are ON THE RISE. Everybody already acknowledges their Sauvignon Blanc and cabernet, and it's looking like pinot could be the third.

So our wine for this episode is the Jules Taylor "The Wrekin" Pinot Noir 2009 from New Zealand's Marlborough wine region. Marlborough is the area of New Zealand that is currently producing some of the absolute best Sauvignon Blanc in the New World. Marlborough is located on the northern tip of the southern New Zealand island. The area experiences an extremely sunny growing season that attributes to bright and feisty characteristics in their wines.

Don't let the boring bottle label fool you, this wine as some nice in-glass features. It has a bright ruby red with some purple tints hiding around the edges of the glass. It's very light and you can tell that in terms of body and weight, the color will translate into a lighter pinot- which should be the case because New Zealand (Marlborough, especially) pinots are lighter-bodied than your typical pinot. If there's one thing I didn't like about this wine, it's that the structure was a little pedestrian. You can tell by the legs, which are flabbily thin and scattered with no pattern around the glass. You feel this later when you taste it.

Wait about ten minutes to really start nosing and tasting this wine, trust me. At least for me, the initial Sniff & Sip was pretty tight and uninteresting. The aromas were bitter and closed and the flavor just wasn't there yet.

Now we can get into the wine's aromas. As you recall last week's episode, the Acrobat pinot noir had some crazy tobacco leaf notes. This pinot on the other hand, has an ever so slight tobacco leaf aroma. What I'm trying to show you is how the climate comes into play. In the Jules Taylor I'm picking up more berries and cassis notes rather than tobacco and leather. There's a lovely elegant oak coming into play as well, but that doesn't excite me as much as the fruit does. I should also note that on the second day of tasting this wine I picked up some cedar-esque scents, playing around with some vanilla notes. And it was nice.

So if Oregon is cold and wet and you get tobacco and leather notes in the Acrobat Pinot Noir (last week's pinot,) you can say that cooler climates produce very terroir-driven characteristics in wine. On the other hand, a super-sunny area such as Marlborough will bring you fruit-bombs, where the terror is still important, but it takes a back seat to the natural fruitiness of the perfectly ripe grape.

So in flavor, we see a similar trend. The fruit dominates the initial flavor and the mid-palate. Once again, red berries and perhaps pitted red fruits, maybe plum-skins are the fruit flavors. The leather and oakyness (oakyness is not a real word, but it should be) is still there though, creating a pleasantly bitter finish to counteract the sweet begining. However I will say that no matter how fruity the wine is, it's relatively dry. You can feel your tongue react to the acidity and your throat can surely feel the dryness and the 14.5% alcohol content. Another thing to note is the wine's light body and velvety texture, which is a deadly combination if you ask me. I personally prefer a heavier bodied wine with a velvety texture, but here you get to experience what its like to have a "purple-flavored" cloud in your mouth. Its pretty cool.

This pinot was pretty good. I'd score her an 85. The Wine Enthusiast gave her a full 90, but I wouldn't go that far. As of yet, my favorite pinot noir so far was the Jermann Blau & Blau. This wine and the Jermann are dramatically different, but they get different jobs done. I'd very much enjoy the Jules Taylor any day of the week. A solid wine, but I'm tired of this average stuff for now. Expect something superb in the next post. See you later alligators!