“The Grand Assemblage finished beautifully, medium bodied with a silky smooth ending. This is a wine that will keep for the next five to 10 years, if well cellared,” writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.  

In December, Brown Family Wine Group sent me a bottle of 2022 Grand Assemblage Tamar Ridge Pinot Noir.

When I receive wine, I make an entry in my wine spreadsheet, something I’ve been doing since my wine collection from my lock-up storage area was stolen.

The insurance company and I had many discussions about the value of my wine when, in 2013, the steel roof of my storage unit was levered off by four young thieves (they were caught on CCTV but not in person) and most of the wine I’d been collecting and cellaring for my adult life was stolen.

Now, I have a more-than-complete record of what wine I’ve bought/been given. So, I looked up the value of the Grand Assemblage to make the spreadsheet entry complete and my gratitude was reinforced when I discovered that it sells for $180 a bottle. Which leads me to the question: what do you call a rich spider? A web designer with a large net worth.

I awaited lunch with the editor of City News and two others before tasting the wine, some 10 months after receiving this bounty.

In part, it was trepidation at trying such an expensive wine. 

By way of comparison, the editor supplied a Waipara Hills 2012 Pinot Noir. Waipara is a small area of NZ north of Christchurch, so it’s another colder-climate pinot noir production area, but it doesn’t have, say, the reputation of the Martinborough region for NZ pinot noir.

Despite my best efforts, no current value for the wine could be gained from an internet search. But one website had it advertised for $18 in 2014, nicely 10 per cent of the value of the Grand Assemblage without allowing for the hefty level of inflation over the last 13 years. 

The Grand Assemblage had a deep red colour and, at first, a slight bouquet of raspberries rather than the expected cherry. With more air, forest floor smells emerged, foreshadowing this wine as a pinot noir of depth.

The first taste demonstrated the complexity of the wine with a floral character that surprised and that then revealed the expected red fruits.

It finished beautifully, medium bodied with a silky smooth ending.  This is a wine that will keep for the next five to 10 years, if well cellared. 

In comparison, the Waipara Hills had stood the test of time pretty well. It was cherry red in colour. The nose had some faded plum notes and a hint of spice.

On taste, cherry and plum merged with light spice. In the mouth the tannins were soft, with just a slight taste of cedar and a finish that didn’t last. 

But it was still a remarkably pleasant drink, especially with beef. It probably would have tasted better a couple of years ago. But then again, the older we get, the better we were.

To end, I thought of a few jokes about rich kids but none of them work.