Burgundy Pinot Noir is revered the world over, but Pinot Noir is also making a name for itself in several regions around the world. Stephen Brook, Xavier Rousset MS and Alex Hunt MW sampled more than 80 wines. Below, you can find their top 11.

It’s quite clear that Pinot Noir can thrive throughout the world, as our tasting rewarded wines from around the globe. Climate, as much as terroir, accounts for this, and there are sweet spots as remote from each other as the Ahr Valley in Germany, Central Otago in New Zealand and the cool coastal areas of South Africa. Here the combination of ideal microclimates and impassioned winemakers seemed to deliver the most exciting wines.

Australia and New Zealand were the most successful regions overall, with Australia dominating the Top 10. Germany also performed strongly – it took the top place, and with one exception all the other German wines also scored highly.

Personal tastes

Xavier Rousset MS was disappointed and not inclined to be forgiving. He found in many wines excessive sweetness, vegetal  characters and poorly handled oak. He thought many wines lacked complexity, though he accepted that vine age may partly account for it.

Alex Hunt MW also detected vegetal aromas, but found that over extraction was rare and that tannins were not generally obtrusive, nor was oak use problematic. Yet there was some lack of typicity, even allowing for the range of Pinot styles.

As for myself, I found fewer vegetal characters and thought most wines were well made, though some were either jammy and/or overworked and lacked purity of flavour.Indeed, personal tastes tend to be particularly pronounced when assessing Pinot Noir: one taster’s ‘delicate’ or ‘refined’ may be another taster’s ‘stringy’ or ‘vegetal’. In this tasting, diverging tastes probably affected Canada most as a category.

Burgundy

Over centuries, Burgundian growers have distilled the experience of generations of monks and lay farmers. The combination of well-drained soils over limestone, perfectly exposed slopes, old vines, sensible yields and (over the last 15 years at least) meticulous farming, often results in Pinot of unmatched quality, complexity and longevity. It’s too much to expect international Pinot to attain a comparable level in just a few decades. I know an Australian winemaker who has often worked in Burgundy. His own Pinots are very good but for a decade or more weren’t remotely Burgundian. Burgundy’s Côte d’Or and its wines can’t simply be transplanted by copying winemaking techniques.Yet setting aside the Burgundian model, there are wines from the world over to reward Pinot fanciers. More time, more experience, better clonal or massal selections, greater vine age and a lighter touch in the winery will doubtless lead to impressive results.

New World and other winemakers are quick to learn, and were this tasting to be replicated in 10 years’ time, I suspect the results would be more exciting.

Top 10

1. Jean Stodden, Spätburgunder Alte Reben 2010. Shows considerable density for Pinot without being too extracted; a true delight...
2. Moorooduc Estate, McIntyre 2013. 2013 was a warm vintage, especially during the weeks just before the harvest...
3. Newton Johnson, Family Vineyards Pinot Noir 2013. The vines, planted to moderate density, were up to nine years old in 2013; yields were modest...
4. Ceritas, Hellenthal Vineyard, Old Shop Block 2013. The grapes are fermented with natural yeasts and a varying proportion of whole clusters, ranging...
5. Coldstream Hills, Deer Farm Vineyard 2013. Coldstream produces three single-vineyard Pinots: Roslyn from Tasmania, Esplanade from...
6. Domaine Donatsch, Unique 2013. Donatsch has twice won the Mondial des Pinots competition in Switzerland...
7. Felton Road, Block 5 2012. This is one of New Zealand’s most admired Pinot producers, thanks to the brilliance and...
8. Mount Edward, Morrison Vineyard 2011. This important property near Gibbston was founded by Alan Brady in 1994 (first vintage 1998)...
9. Pegasus Bay, Prima Donna 2012. Has some purity of fruit and poise, fine acidity that lifts the palate, and an intensity that gives persistence...
10. Tolpuddle Vineyard, Coal River Valley 2014. The soil is very thin, sandy topsoil over sandstone and clay. Vinified by lauded winemaker...
11. Yabby Lake Vineyard, Single Block Release, Block 2 2013. No particular wizardry is employed at the winery: oak use is cautious, with ageing in French...