So many wines, so little time. It really feels that way sometimes. Personally, I think there’s probably enough great Pinot Noir in Burgundy to last me the rest of my wine-drinking life, but then I have a wine like Steve Davies’ Doctors Flat and I think: I
’ve got to get on a plane to New Zealand!Along with Oregon’s Willamette Valley, New Zealand’s Central Otago region has fast become a real-deal New World rival to the hallowed côtes of Burgundy, and it’s important to note that these wines don’t simply “mimic” Burgundy—they have a Burgundian spirit, yes, but they speak with their own distinctive voice. We’re now at a point where Central Otago Pinot Noir is its own, readily identifiable category on the ‘great Pinot Noirs of the world’ spectrum. Steve Davies, who moved from the Napa Valley to Bannockburn, New Zealand in 1998, saw it coming early on, and his Doctors Flat wines are the work of a small-scale, New World vigneron committed to doing it right. From just three hectares of organically farmed vines comes this deeply concentrated, well-structured gem from 2014—it has Central Otago’s signature crushed-velvet texture, ample black cherry fruit, and firm backbone. Think saturated, not sappy. It’s a very exciting (and genuinely serious) bottle from a region we all need to be exploring more regularly.
Situated at the 45th parallel, Central Otago is not only the most southerly wine region in New Zealand, but the world. The lush, green ‘Middle Earth’ vistas and remote setting are enough to merit a visit right there, but as Davies and his contemporaries have discovered, the wines live up to their spectacular setting. The Doctors Flat Vineyard (which takes its name from a 19th century gold-mining company that once operated in the area) is in the Bannockburn area south of Lake Dunstan, on a slope comprised of silt and gravel deposited by retreating glaciers millennia ago. Minerals such as mica and quartzite, typical of morainic soils, are prevalent, and the gravel runs exceptionally deep, allowing vine roots to burrow downward in search of nutrients.
Davies, whose lengthy winemaking resumé covers more than 30 harvests in California (Newton, Saintsbury, Peter Michael), Oregon, and Burgundy (Domaine Dujac), planted his three hectares of Pinot Noir in 2002, and farms them organically. There is some elevation in Bannockburn, augmenting what is already a cool, continental climate, so there’s no shortage of acidity to balance the ripeness the wines are reliably able to achieve. Davies ferments his Pinot Noir on indigenous yeasts in small, open-topped vats, typically incorporating about 30% whole grape bunches, then ages the finished wines for a year in French oak barrels (1/3rd new) and another year in tank before release. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Bottled under screwcap, today’s 2014 needs a few minutes of air to shake loose its wide range of textbook Pinot Noir aromas—but once it does, look out! In the glass, it’s a deep ruby moving to magenta and pink highlights at the rim and bursts forth with scents of wild blackberry, black cherry, raspberry, rose hips, wild herbs, black tea, wild mushroom, and damp, smoky underbrush. It is medium-plus in body and satisfyingly palate-coating, but there’s none of the cherry cola sweetness/excess viscosity that dooms a lot of fuller-styled New World Pinots. The tannins are extremely fine; what will give this longevity is the acidity, which nicely offsets the already modest (13.5%) alcohol as well. Drink this over the next 3-5 years, decanting it about 30 minutes before service to allow any ‘reductive’ (i.e. oxygen-starved) qualities to dissipate. Serve it at 60-65 degrees in Burgundy stems with duck or other game; it’s got the stuffing to something a little weightier on the plate. It is a supremely satisfying Pinot Noir for enjoying over the near term—very much worth swerving out of your regular ‘lane’ for. Cheers!
