Pending a more complete description of our time spent in the Hunter
Valley of Australia, here are a few notes on wines tried in recent days:

With a dinner of duck (me) and venison (Jean) at the Panorama restaurant
in the Hermitage in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (NZ):

2008 Amisfield Pinot Noir (Central Otago)
nose: sappy, bright red berry fruit
palate: medium-light body, juicy, good acidity

Light on its feet and very food friendly, this Pinot Noir definitely
appealed to our sensibilities. We've had a few other Central Otago
Pinots that were much more extracted and oaky, so this one stood out for
its restraint and delicacy.

2011 McGuigan Bin 9000 Semillon (Hunter Valley, Australia)
nose: saline, citrus, seashells
palate: light, high acidity, moderate fruit

More about this later, but McGuigan styles their wines for earlier
drinking than e.g. Tyrell's Vat 1. This is a very appealing wine in the
vein of Muscadet, Chablis and Riesling Trocken.

Tonight, with dinner of venison (me) and lamb (Jean) in St. Clair, NZ, a
suburb of Dunedin:

2010 Allan Scott Hounds Pinot Noir
nose: sappy, piney, bright cranberry fruit
palate: light, high acidity, deep fruit

One lasting impression from my visit to New Zealand in 2001 was the
sappy/piney impression left by most NZ Pinot Noirs, as well as their
distinctly purple color. This trip I still find that same character in
the Pinots tried to date, though the color is more red than I noted
previously. Jean felt that this wine was an early quaffer, though it
certainly took on more heft as the wine sat open.

Mark Lipton