Wine Review: New Zealand pinot noir Take those very fashionable (sometimes costly) pinot noirs. I recently tasted a selection from Marlborough and Central Otago on the South Island, and Martinborough on the North. I picked up surprisingly different styles, my notes including 'rich chocolate', 'fruitcake and juicy red berries', 'nutty, spicy, tannic' and 'velvet smooth'. The extra complexity is partly because many younger vineyards have now come of age, about a decade old, and produce far more characterful fruit. And it's partly because growers planted pinot in better sites; up lower hillside slopes for slower ripening, and on the clay-loam soils that suit this grape. Excitingly, this fine-tuning has only just begun. Pinot is the country's most planted red grape, but in a land dominated by sauvignon blanc, it's still only five to six per cent of all vines. That figure is rising rapidly, though, as New Zealand's young wine industry evolves, and the perfect sites for this pernickety, most difficult of grapes are perhaps only just being discovered. In short, the best is yet to come. Tesco Finest Central Otago Pinot Noir 2011 New Zealand (£10.99) Made by the Sacred Hill winery, this is a seductive pinot, smooth and ripe with rounded plum and black cherry. Good-value compared with many NZ pinot noirs; match with duck. Kim Crawford Pinot Noir 2011 Marlborough, New Zealand (nzhouseofwine.co.uk, £12.99 or £10.99 when you buy two or more) There's 15 per cent Central Otago grapes in this youthful, slightly spicy, elegant South Island pinot, which has a note of hazelnut with redcurrant fruit. Delta Pinot Noir 2010 Marlborough, New Zealand (northandsouthwines.co.uk, £12.89) One for fans of highly fruity, fresh pinots with good acidity, this 100 per cent Marlborough-region pinot has lively cherry fruitcake and juicy red-berry flavours and a long, succulent finish. TIPPLE TIP berry glassy... Berry Bros & Rudd's own-range wine glasses, called The Wine Merchant's Glasses, look elegant, are thin-rimmed (so feel delicate on the lips) and come in seven different sizes and shapes for various wine styles. I have tested and approve. From £27.50 per pair (0800 280 2440; bbr.com)