Matt Richman wrote:I wasn't that impressed with the wine when I visited Mt. Difficulty, although I took no formal notes. However I did like this bottle and I think it's fairly priced for the global pinot noir market.
I am biased towards Mt Difficulty and their wines because of my first visit there. Fairly early on in the Central Otago wine industry, and just after the first or second vintage of Mt Difficulty, I stopped by a half built building with a Mt Difficulty sign. I'd heard of them, never tasted their wine, but it was on the way to Felton Road winery, so I thought, what the heck. I walked up to what I thought was a construction worker there. Turns out, he was one of the owners, and we had a nice chat. He was surprised I'd heard of the winery, and seemed chuffed (kiwi for happy) that I wanted to try some. The tasting room and winery were still being built, so they had no tasting facilities. "Tell you what", he said, "I'll call my wife, give you directions to my house, and you can buy a bottle from my personal stash". Typical kiwi friendliness, and definitely a going above and beyond the call of customer service moment! How can you not like people like that!