Cambridge Road Dovetail Martinborough 2011

It’s easy to think you know what to expect with New Zealand wine - immensely drinkable, intense fruit flavours - but this range from Cambridge Road in Martinborough really blew me away

There’s also a pinot noir which you’d expect from Martinborough and a syrah which you perhaps wouldn’t but I was particularly taken with this ‘field blend’, a description that applies to vineyards where a number of grape varieties are grown together - in this case very low-yielding pinot noir and syrah.

In fact it tastes quite cabernet franc-ish to me with its beguiling crunchy wild raspberry and mulberry fruit but it has that characteristic syrah hit of white pepper and the purity and vitality that comes with biodynamic viticulture. It’s unfined and unfiltered and made with minimal sulphur.

I would drink it lightly chilled with simply grilled lamb though it would also pair well with veal or seared fish like tuna and with grilled asparagus as in this asparagus, potato and herb salad

The most exciting wine I’ve tasted from New Zealand for a long time - not cheap, granted, at £34 a bottle (from Les Caves de Pyrène) but world class.

The Smiling Grape Company has the 2010 which I haven’t tasted for £38.69 currently.

Lethbridge Ménage a Noir Geelong Pinot Noir 2010

This week’s wine highlight was the Australia Day tasting which seems to get better every year. I could have picked out a whole load of interesting bottles but this came from the producer who made the biggest impact on me, Lethbridge of Geelong

Most stockists have it around £23 a bottle - £23.09 Noel Young Wines, £23.50 at Eton Vintners but I found it for £19.95 online at Quality Wines of Somerset and at allaboutwine.co.uk for £19.99. Still not exactly cheap but that’s true of almost all the better Aussie wines these days and there are plenty of pinots which would cost more and deliver much, much less.

It’s fine textured and silky with some lovely delicate red berry fruit (but by no means a fruit bomb) and with enough structure to support a good steak. Interestingly it turns out to be biodynamic as I often find the wines I most enjoy are these days (but not sulphur-free, I'm pretty sure).

If I’d been able to I might well have singled out the equally delicious Lethbridge chardonnay which doesn’t seem to be on sale in the UK yet but since winemaker (and former neuroscientist) Ray Nadeson was at the tasting in person hopefully there will be enough demand for it to make it available in the not-too-distant future.

There’s also an attractive, citrussy off-dry riesling too (Dr Nadeson riesling) of the style I’ve recommended with a Chinese New Year feast this weekend. If you live in Oz can buy it for around 30 AD (£16).

Calusari Pinot Noir - a brilliant pinot noir for £5.99

The general view is that it’s impossible to buy decent pinot noir under £10 but I find it’s a theory that’s consistently being disproved these days. And that the best of the cheaper pinots are as good as many burgundies at twice the price.

This week’s drink of the week - a 2012 Calusari Romanian Pinot Noir that’s currently on offer at an incredible £5.99 at Bristol wine merchant David Bell McCraith - falls into that category.

It’s quite light in colour but has a dark plummy flavour rather than the bright raspberry fruit of pinots from California, Chile and New Zealand. It’s also a shade drier and more savoury which will appeal if you’re looking for a low cost alternative to Burgundy.

Surprisingly the winery is owned by a Brit, Philip Cox, aided by new world-trained winemakers. (The wine actually reminded me of Jacob's Creek's Pinot Noir which is quite a bit more expensive.)

In this sunny weather I would chill it lightly and serve it with any of the usual pinot suspects* - seared tuna or salmon, grilled lamb or duck. The perfect easy-drinking red for a barbecue.

Other stockists include The Halifax Wine Company (£6.59) Hennings in Sussex (£6.99). For more see wine-searcher.com

* For a longer list of pinot pairings see here.