France named the owner of luxury goods company LVMH, Bernard Arnault, as the country’s most wealthy in last week’s publication of the annual rich list.
He’s the one that tried to do a ‘Gerard Depardieu’ and get another passport in a bid to avoid France’s 75% tax on millionaires. Perhaps Arnault could play a starring role in upcoming movie Green Card 2?!
While I’m no fan of a tax evader, the latest release from the LVMH-owned Cloudy Bay in Marlborough deserves a mention.
The 2010 Te Wahi is the winery’s first attempt at making Pinot Noir using fruit sourced from Central Otago and it’s decent booze.
While Te Wahi means ‘Our Place’, the fruit is sourced from a few places that are pretty far away from Cloudy Bay’s HQ in Marlborough. It’s actually a blend of three Central Otago sub-regions: Bannockburn, Bendigo and Lowburn and the wine speaks more of Central Otago than it does any of the three sub-regions.
The 2010 vintage was a stunner. The start of the season was cooler than usual, which led to small berry size and lower bunch weights, which would later produce wines with good depth of colour, powerful tannins (on the Pinot spectrum) and fruit concentration.
From January through to harvest, warm weather prevailed and the critical period of March and April provided settled conditions with little disease pressure and the luxury of picking when it suited.
The finished product is very impressive for an inaugural vintage, which is set for release in the U.S. in the coming months.
“Perfumed with vibrant red and black fruits, layers of violets and a distinct note of green herbs – thyme – and a puff of dustiness.
“Pure fruit with good density on the mid-palate yet remains delicate and silky.
“High level of concentration suggest low yields. Fine-grained tannin yet relatively powerful for Pinot with a mouthwatering level of fresh acidity. Oak is harmonious, well integrated and very subtle considering it is 40% new. A very complete and harmonious wine. Ready to drink now for its fruity appeal but the combination of fruit concentration, fresh acid and moderate tannin should see this continue to evolve nicely over the next 4-6 years ” 93/100
