Pyramid Valley’s 2008 “Kerner Estate” Pinot Blanc is just sensational. Resulting from a wild yeast fermentation in old oak that lasted 10 months, the nose is a little mute to begin but give it a few moments and fragrant notes of spiced pears, warm apples and toast begin to appear with an undercurrent of white blossom and dill seed. The full bodied palate is rich with apple and stone fruit flavors plus a silken texture with crisp acid to enliven and a long creamy finish. Delicious now, it should open with a further 6 months in bottle and I’m imagining it will develop a pleasant nutty/toasty character, drinking through 2014+.
“Technology has allowed us to make better wine more naturally. We can test now to see if Brett is going to be a problem,” Pyramid Valley’s owner Mike Weersing explained during our tasting in Singapore. “My passion right now is natural winemaking. True wines.” A proponent of biodynamics for his small-but-beautiful “Home” vineyards in a remote corner of North Canterbury, Mike also has an eye for sourcing high quality fruit from some amazing sites around the country including the hillside Eaton Family vineyard in Marlborough and the Calvert vineyard in Central Otago. While his inimitable style polarizes many in New Zealand, from where I’m standing he’s doing a fantastic job at expressing his sites, varieties and vision. It probably doesn’t need to be mentioned but all the wines are fermented using indigenous yeast.
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