KEY POINTS:
When pinot noir overtook cabernet sauvignon nine years ago as New Zealand's most widely planted red grape variety, it was a portent of less rather than more potent things to come.
Who would have thought that the search for a red grape that would grow well in this country's cool climate would herald the arrival of its best known mutation - and one of the wine world's least distinctive wines.
The initial growth was small; less than 50ha more pinot noir grew in 1998 than in 1997, a minuscule amount more of the early ripening pinot noir - better suited to this country's cool climate - than the late ripening cabernet sauvignon.
Pinot noir, which has grown from 596ha in 1998 to 4049ha this year, foreshadowed the far more difficult to understand growth of pinot gris. Pinot noir's best-known mutation, grew from 61ha to 964ha in the same time. The best, as I have to concede, are better than ever but on the bottom rung, New Zealand pinot gris tastes like lolly water.
It might have been Martinborough winemakers who first poured high quality New Zealand pinot noir into our glasses, but those same glasses have, for the past half-decade, mostly been filled with pinot noir from Central Otago. It's no secret that, slightly further north than Central, the two small regions of Waitaki and Waipara have been making stunning but minute quantities of pinot noir.
There is also a more exciting newcomer in Marlborough. For evidence, look at Fromm Pinot Noir (okay, so it's always been good), and add to that the exceptionally well-priced mid-$20s Seresin Estate and Momo pinot noirs; Montana The Terraces and Stoneleigh Reserve pinot noir.
Everyone who drinks wine and wants to find out more about pinot noir, aromatic white wines (pinot gris and riesling fit this category) or syrah, can register for Pinot Noir 2007, the pinot noir conference in Wellington at the end of this month. Tickets are still available at: www.pinotnoir2007.co.nz
