The first thing I ever say to anyone when describing this wine is that the nose is like a wonderful, sweet perfume. All raspberries and blackberries, like sniffing a packet of Wine Gums Red & Blacks.
Generally my experience of this wine is that it is quite robust but well balanced with forest fruits, a bit of spice (maybe clove), an elegant acidity and a hint of violet, and a beautiful dark purple colour.
I say generally that is my experience as the bottle I am reviewing is my first of the 2016 vintage and I personally feel that it is a bit young, it needs another year or maybe two just to really unleash itself.
The 2015 Borgo Magredo Refosco was a taste explosion, fantastically well balanced but with flavours lighting up the mouth, and I have no doubt another 12 months will do the same for the 2016 vintage.
I will confess that I was drinking it paired with some spiced veg and they may have been overpowering the more subtle flavours, generally Refosco is well paired with roasted red meats, moussaka, beef bourguignon and braised beef.
Generally I see this wine retailing for around £10 and it is drinking well above its price, but then of course it would be, Refosco is a wine favoured famously by Casanova (there you go lads, a little line of seduction for you).

Varietal
Refosco dal peduncolo rosso

Country of Origin & Region
Italy, Friuli

Winemaker
Borgo Magredo

Alcohol Content
​12.5%

Oh hey look, Kyle is reviewing a New Zealand Pinot Noir. Those aren't going to come up often. In the Two Paddocks review I already said that the NZ Pinot's were my varietal of choice and this page could get boring very quickly if I stick to what I know and love, so I'll try to keep it to lesser known brands than Oyster Bay and Villa Maria.
So I've had a few Pinot Noirs by Marisco Vineyards, and it's amazing the variety of flavours they have. For instance The King's Wrath I find to be very porty and I don't think that it is something that you could sip on all night, nice with something like a venison and chocolate hotpot but then move on to something a bit easier drinking. Their The Ned Pinot Noir I'm sorry to say I just don't like, there's an overly strong flavour (possibly of oak) in it that I simply do not enjoy (conversely their The Ned Pinot Grigio is a beautiful wine that I fully intend to review at some point).
The Curious Kiwi Nelson Pinot Noir is another completely different wine, a red fruits nose rubbing against the border of porty but not crossing over and the cherry flavours are more prominent on the tongue.
It's a well balanced wine with that trademark Pinot Noir darkness, and swirling it creates plenty of teardrops on the glass so you know the quality is there.
I was enjoying it as a companion to a BBQ chicken pizza, and they worked well together, I do recommend a bit of personal experimentation to find your own good mix.
There, that was relatively painless. It's a nice wine, a good mid-range, though I would say that getting up to £12.99 in the off sales I think it is starting to reach the limit of what it's price should be.

Varietal
Pinot Noir

Country of Origin & Region
New Zealand, Marlborough

Winemaker
Marisco Vineyards Limited

Alcohol Content
​14%

​I first reviewed the 2013 vintage of The Chocolate Block on the app Vivino, it's handy and is worth getting if like myself you enjoy pretending you are more knowledgeable than you are.
My thoughts on The Chocolate Block haven't changed so I'm simply going to plagiarize my own review from Vivino and pretend that it's all new.
The Chocolate Block is simply a fantastic blend, right up there with the best of Franschhoek.
A rich and fragrant nose going into a smooth and balanced taste up front, intense in the middle and a delicate finish.
I know that with a blend of five grapes the wine is a bit schizophrenic but all blends have a touch of a multiple personality disorder and in this instance the voices in the bottle have lined up to form a choir.
It goes well with the Duck Ragu in Coppi, Belfast (one of my favourite restaurants, at time of writing I don't have a review for it up as I only go there on dates and, well... it's been a while).

Varietal
Syrah 71%
Grenache 15%
Cabernet Sauvignon 8%
Cinsault 5%
Viognier 1%

Country of Origin & Region
South Africa, Franschhoek

Winemaker
Boekenhoutskloof

Alcohol Content
​14.5%

I'm known to be a big fan of the New Zealand Pinot Noirs, they've been my trusted varietal and confidante since my mid twenties, have been with me through good times and bad, and some of the better parts of my literary writing were ghost written by my faithful companion.
This wine however is difficult for me to review; First, because I've been an almost lifelong fan of Sam Neill and had the pleasure of joining a dinner with him back when his wines first came to Northern Ireland, and he is a wonderful person; Second, he follows me on Twitter and might actually read this.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting off talking about the wine for any negative reasons but it's going to be hard to praise it without any calls of bias.
They say that if God made Cabernet Sauvignon then the Devil made Pinot Noir, so maybe it's appropriate that the guy who played Damian in Omen 3 works with this grape.
See what I did there?
Ok. You know what your typical NZ Pinot is going to be like, more medium bodied than it's French cousins thanks to the rich volcanic soil in that part of the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' unleashing flavours of cherry and plum.
The First Paddock has a hint of smokiness, spice and herbs, but it's the cherry and plum that take the lead, giving the wine a beautiful depth and complexity.
Not biased.
The colour is as dark as Sam Neill's heart is at the end of Event Horizon... ok, no more movie references. Pinot Noir always was on the darker end of the colour spectrum, something that I have always taken to be a hint of the hidden complexity of the grape, and the First Paddock is definitely on the darker end of the Dulux Colour Chart.
Not that I am likening this wine to paint, if my walls were coated in it I would have it licked off long ago.
The Central Otago Pinots I always consider that little bit lighter than those from Marlborough, the Marlborough region I usually find to have more of a slight tartness (which I really like) but I can't fault Otago for producing a wine this silky smooth.
In summary: I rate the Two Paddocks First Paddock among the top of New Zealand Pinot Noirs, it's worth having a bottle to treat yourself (and someone else if you really must).
You'll note from the picture that the bottle is empty, I made sure to fully research the wine before writing this review.

Varietal
Pinot Noir

Country of Origin & Region
New Zealand, Central Otago

Winemaker
Dean Shaw, of Two Paddocks

Alcohol Content
​13%