Fluent in Pinot Noir

Pinot noir from New Zealand’s Marlborough region is inimitable says the Telegraph’s Victoria Moore. “If I had to choose one New Zealand region whose pinot noir I would drink for the rest of my life, I think it would be Marlborough. Marlborough sauvignon blanc has a luminous quality, and the pinot noir is the same. It has a fragrance that catches you high on the bridge of your nose. It’s more red cherry than black. It sounds peculiar to say this of a liquid, but it is also incredibly fluent. ‘It just feels so effortless, it … glides,’ as I said to Cloudy Bay winemaker Nick Lane. ‘That’s exactly it,” Lane replied. ‘I always call it slippery. We certainly don’t have any problem in Marlborough capturing that lift.’ He should know. His 2008 pinot is like a glimmering sheet of soft, soft silk, with a certain tension underlying it.”