Wine world leaders invited to NZ Pinot Celebration

Wine world leaders invited for New Zealand Pinot Noir celebration

Planning is well underway for a third international celebration of New Zealand Pinot Noir.

More than 500 leading international wine commentators, producers, trade, media and lovers of great wine are being invited to Wellington for Pinot Noir 2007, being held between 31 January and 3 February 2007.

Pinot Noir 2007 Board Chairman Steve Smith says the event is a must-have on the calendar of anyone with a love of, or involvement with, Pinot Noir.

It’s the third event of its kind, following on from the highly successful Pinot Noir 2001 and 2004, and the organisers are promising something new and different.

The programme will offer three conference streams with something to appeal to everyone’s interests – be they technical subjects, the business of wine, or wine connoisseur and consumer workshops

And there are already some impressive speakers and panelists confirmed on the programme. They include:

Top UK wine writer, lecturer, judge and commentator Matthew Jukes

The French master of soil, Claude Bourguignon

Pierre-Henri Gagey of Maison Louis Jadot, arguably Burgundy’s most prestigious negociant and producer.

CH’NG Poh Tiong, publisher of The Wine Review, South-East Asia’s oldest wine magazine and

Michel Bettane, France’s most respected and prominent wine writer

Australian viticulture and plant physiology lecturer, researcher, author and inventor Dr Peter Dry

There will also be tastings of some incredible wines. Already on the programme are:

Great Pinot Noirs of New Zealand

Great Pinot Noirs of the World (including 40 bottles of the rare Chambertin from Rousseau 2003)

A feature tasting from the excellent 2003 New Zealand vintage.

Steve says Pinot Noir 2007 will be an opportunity for food and wine lovers to mix and mingle with wine stars of the world, taste top wines and indulge in a spectacular culinary programme devised by leading Chef, Caterer and Food Writer Ruth Pretty.

“What more could a lover of Pinot Noir want? Pinot Noir has some serious aims – we want to promote New Zealand’s super and ultra premium wines to the world, focusing on the uniqueness of our wines and the special contribution they make.

“But we also want to have 500 of the world’s key wine media, trade, connoisseur wine lovers and winemakers join us for a celebration of New Zealand Pinot Noir and give them an experience like they have never seen.”

Steve says Pinot Noir is now this country’s most widely planted red grape, and New Zealand is fasting becoming one of the most significant New World producers of Pinot Noir.

“Regional styles are developing and we already have a number of great Pinot Noir producers. If we can encourage the rest to achieve the same thing, we have the opportunity to be a great Pinot Noir-producing country simply because we have got the natural resources to do it.

“The New Zealand wine industry is potentially at the start of something big – we’ve done it with our Sauvignon Blancs, and I think our Pinot Noir can truly shine on the world stage.

“What better way to achieve that than by having the world’s leading wine people with us to discuss, analyse and share experiences. It’s not about promotion but about learning, tasting and benchmarking.

“Everyone will leave Pinot Noir 2007 having had a great experience and their mind opened.”

Registrations of interest to receive more information about Pinot Noir 2007 can be made on the event website: http://www.pinotnoir2007.co.nz

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