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For many in the wine drinking world, all roads lead to Pinot Noir and for a long time that pretty much meant Burgundy. But the last few decades has seen several other regions pop up on this well-travelled road, a few of which (without wishing to start an argument) include; Oregon, Sonoma, Germany, Mornington, Gippsland, Tasmania, Martinborough and of course Central Otago in the south island of New Zealand.

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“We’re trying to express much more than a straightforward fruit story. That spice is really important to us, which is one of the reasons we’re pretty keen to use whole bunches.” Andrew Donaldson, a Pinot Noir specialist from New Zealand’s Central Otago, is leading me through a tasting of his two wines.The spiced cherry, brown spices and leafy complexity, he says, are enhanced by using whole bunches in the fermentation. He’s also a fan of using whole berries.“Everything we do now is whole bunch or whole berry, we don’t crush berries anymore,” he explains.

In their inimitable, effortlessly cool way this post originated on thenewzealandcellar.co.uk, if you’re in the UK and like Fine NZ Wine, they are your go-to for a beautifully curated collection of tremendous New Zealand wines.   And man - did we enjoy ourselves at their recent tasting - lovely happy intrigued people asking very interesting questions plus a surprise appearance by the great Cameron Douglas, MS, fresh from the Decanter World Wine Awards testing bench - honoured!  We showcased some of our Library wines including the 2013 A2. It was our very first A2 ever released and it had aged incredibly well - stole the show actually. ...