New Zealand is a long way away from our shores and I do sometimes wonder about the whole “green” aspect of shipping wine halfway around the globe. I mean, we do have some perfectly good wines on our doorstep. Hell, we even have some good stuff coming from the UK nowadays. But, I suppose the beauty of wine is its diversity and the fact that a Pinot Noir from France is not the same as a Pinot Noir from, say, New Zealand.
And that brings me to my latest find, the Yealands Estate 2011 Pinot Noir. Yealands Estate is from New Zealand and I have had their white wines in the past. As a matter of fact, their Sauvignon Blanc was voted one of the best in the world in 2012. However, you may be asking what does all that have to do with carbon footprints and greenhouse gases? Well, Yealands Estate is the first winery in the world to have been awarded the CarboNZero certification from inception. This means that since they started the winery, they have always measured and off-set their greenhouse emissions. The certification is all part of their efforts to be a wholly sustainable winery.
I don’t know about you, but I feel a bit better about drinking their wines knowing that they are doing their bit for the environment. The Yealands Estate Pinot Noir 2011 has just been released here in the UK and it is drinking beautifully. Fresh and fruity on the nose with hints of spices in the background, it also has a slight vanilla aroma to it but not too noticeable. Round tannins make for a smooth mouthful of wine but still with great acidity. It’s a juicy wine with loads of ripe black cherry and strawberry on the palate, finishing off with a toasty note. A very moreish wine; you could happily drink it on its own or perhaps with a leg of lamb or hunk of venison.
The Yealands Estate 2011 Pinot Noir is available from from DVine Cellars, among others, and retails for £14.50.
