Cloudy Bay Central Otago Pinot Noir, really?

· Blog
Aug 16th, 2012 | By | Category: Blog

Cloudy Bay Central Otago Pinot Noir, really?Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir

The most iconic Marlborough winery is abandoning their roots and have decided to make from elsewhere.

Yep, you read that correctly. It seems that every man and his dog wants a Central Otago to throw around these days. But really, is Cloudy Bay’s market position under threat, or is it a case that Central Otago have done such a marvellous job of branding that wineries feel compelled to have one in their wine portfolio?

I have long admired Cloudy Bay for making just one bottle of each of their wines, and the fact that they all came from Marlborough, their base. Now gone are the days where sticking to your knitting counted for anything.

The first vintage, of the said wine, will be 2010. They have been working with some Central Otago growers since 2009, but not only are they expanding in Central Otago, they’re looking at buying vineyards in Martinborough as well!

I sincerely hope that this new venture doesn’t dilute Cloudy Bay’s brand and image. Personally, I see this as a retrograde step for the brand. They are now just another NZ winery producing wine from all corners of New Zealand. Although, I’m sure the consumer wouldn’t notice.

Powered By DT Author Box

Written by Jayson Bryant

Jayson Bryant

Jayson’s roots in wine began when his father literally dragged him round France and injected his passion into him. From the age of 8 his family took month long holidays in France travelling through all regions and sampling their wine.
UnScrewed has reinvented the concept of wine tasting in New Zealand and along the way found a new and willing audience. In addition to encouraging straightforward wine tasting, Jayson educates viewers about the effects of regional factors (soil, sun, wind) on wine flavours, and how to buy wine.

Author’s Website

Tags:


  • Robert

     I
    guess it is an irresistible temptation for a corporate like MH to leverage the
    CB brand and their infrastructure. It seems to be the NZ wine biz model of the
    moment. Once a corporate owns a winery, the values of the boutique owner are unlikely
    to prevail, which may not please consumers like us. Jayson do you reckon that
    CB wines are as good as they used to be? I used to recommend St Clair Wairau
    Reserve SB to my London relatives but they were staunch CB SB fans. A
    remarkable feat of branding (and wine making) during the Kevin Judd era.

  • http://twitter.com/magicmike29 Mike Matthews

    Would be interesting to hear what Kevin Judd thinks about this expansion. I remember when we were lucky to get a few bottles of Cloudy Bay to sell per year. As an independent I’ve been selling it all year round, and in large numbers too. So since Kevin Judd left, what is cloudy bays annual output? Under Judd I believe it was around 36000 cases per year, the same number he has adopted for Greywacke. Have they sold their soul for mass production over quality?
    Nowadays I tend to think that Cloudy Bay, here in the UK, has over exceeded its price point, between £20-£24. I will always recommend Judd’s Greywacke wines as a far superior alternative to CB, plus they work out cheaper at £16-£18.
    Not to put a complete dampener on CB, Te Koko, a fine example of Sauvignon Blanc diversity. I would be interested in getting my hands on a Central Otago Pinot and Martinborough when released. Chuck one in the post please Jay.