Wairarapa Pinot Noirs Outdoing the Best

Martinborough has perfect growing conditions for producing award-winning Pinot Noir, with soil and climate closely resembling those in Burgandy, France. The Telegraph’s Cameron Wilson signs up for some tastings with Wairarapa local Sue McLeary of Zest Food Tours.

“In the tasting room at Palliser Estate, Tania is behind the bar and talking me through the wine list,” Wilson says. “When we get to the Pinot Noir, Sue is as much an enthusiast as I am.”

“‘The pinot here is quite different from the ones you get from Marlborough,” McLeary says. ‘You’ll find these are subtler but more complex.’

“By the time we arrive at IN.GRE’DI.ENT, a tiny café, its owner Tania Everson is waiting with a platter of local sheep’s-milk and blue cheeses, and we each order a coffee. It’s the end of the tour, and Sue has only to drop me back to Woodside Station for the one-hour train ride back to Wellington. Along the way, I bring up the subject of an article I have read about Martinborough, which Sue confirms to be entirely true: in 2010, at the Decanter Wine Awards, the world’s most prestigious wine-judging event, Martinborough Vineyard’s Schubert Wines Block B beat pricier entrants from across the globe (including Burgundy) to be named the World’s Best Pinot Noir.”