Ridgeview Bloomsbury 2009

Pale gold, sprightly in the glass with ripe golden delicious apples, a touch of spiced baked apple too and a gentle layer of ground almond sweetness, verging on vanillla and ginger biscuits from the bottle age. It's quite an interesting example of a bottle that has had a relatively short time on lees but has been cellared for 18 months - the beginnings of the richness and toastiness of bottle age accompanies quite a freshly-textured, youthful feel to the wine. It doesn't quite have the length on the palate of the very best best lees-aged sparklers from the UK, with a touch of bitterness edging in, but that's no surprise - Bloomsbury is a consistent wine at the more reasonable end of the price spectrum for English fizz, and whilst I've had some decent 'off the shelf' experiences with it, this bottle proves that stashing it away for 18 months will be well worth it.
Incidentally I did try the 2010 Knightsbridge recently, which is an absolute cracker if you can find it....

Leung Estate 'Ma Maison' Pinot Noir 2011, Martinborough, New Zealand

I had a real Pinot craving this evening. When you have a Pinot craving there's no point fighting it -
nothing else will do and you just have to get out the banknotes and take your chances. There are lots of pretty top-tier New Zealand pinots that come in under £30 retail, and I have found a couple that have really grabbed me over the years. I tried my luck on this one, from the shelves of the ever-reliable Bottle Apostle down the road in Victoria Park.
Whether it's the vintage or just the vineyard style, this wine comes in very much at the crunchy red fruit end of the spectrum, with raspberries in vanilla yoghurt, redcurrants and sweet poached strawberry fruit gently rising above touches of green peppercorn and basil. The palate brings together the summery softness of that red fruit with a pervading tang of acidity; I can't help feeling that this wine is just a touch less ripe than it would really like to be. It comes in at 13%abv and it feels just a touch mean. I don't like big, burly pinots; however, whilst long on elegance and fruit definition it just hasn't quite scratched that Pinot itch...
As an aside, the notes on the back of the label do point to this being a vintage to drink young for this wine, so it's probably worth having a pop at another year.