North vs. South
What an interesting tasting this proved to be. Not only did we get to contrast some fine wines, but we also got to compare the styles of our presenters, Roger Fraser from Murdoch James and Heather McPherson from Olssens.
The evening opened with our mingling wine being 2010 Sauvignon Blancs from the two vineyards. These were followed by 2010 Rieslings with the Murdoch James release being particularly to my liking.
The Pinots were the highlight. The contrast of the savoury farm-yard Pinot Noirs of Martinborough with the more berry fruit style Pinots of Central Otago were glaringly obvious to all, as were their colour differences. This was clearly demonstrated with the last Pinots of the evening which were presented to us blind. Not only did everyone pick that they were Pinots, but there was 100% success in picking which was the one from Murdoch James.
That our presenters should choose to use their premiere Pinot Noirs, Slapjack (Olssens) and Fraser (Murdoch James) to test us in this way simply showed that they too weren’t adverse to having some fun at our expense.
And who won the battle? Whilst I know many present thought Murdoch James the winner on the night, for me it was Olssens with their Central Otago Pinots giving them the slight edge for the evening.
31 people attended the tastings and our thanks go again to Roger and Heather for the presentation of some great wines in such a fun but
informative way.
Oh yes, before you all rush off following my recommendation, I had better disclose a bias, This writer was born in Central Otago.