What was the wine of the trip?” asked the host.
The answer was both obvious and unexpected – “The 2001 Paringa Estate Pinot.” There was no hesitation on my part and this was a visit that had included Champagne of a stellar year, aged Chablis of great provenance and Trophy winning pinots from New Zealand and Tasmania.
Served blind, as it was, I was convinced that this was a wine from Central Otago with a couple of years under its belt – 2005 was the guess such was its fruit purity, fine perfume and sweet, silky palate. The Paringa word had been on my lips early though as I recalled the clarity and finesse of the 2006 Estate Pinot tasted earlier that day at cellar door. But I couldn’t imagine an Aussie pinot looking so glamorous after 7 years in bottle. Prejudices have now been cast aside.
It should have been no surprise, Paringa Estate Pinot shows up vintage after vintage at the top of wine lovers’ and critics’ lists of favourite pinots. The track record is there, buy this wine with total confidence and make sure you have some to pull out in seven years’ time.
