“Sir, I may have to confiscate your three bottles of Central Otago pinot noir,” said the security officer at Auckland airport, as I prepared to fly home last Friday after two winefocused weeks of touring New Zealand.

“Why would you do that?” I asked nervously.

“Because Central Otago pinot noir is my favorite wine and I just might be tempted to drink those bottles myself,” the officer said. Only when she grinned did I realize that she was kidding.

But there’s no kidding around when it comes to the promise of pinot noir from rugged, remote Central Otago, a small region tucked away east of Queenstown on New Zealand’s South Island.

For seekers of alternatives to ultra expensive red Burgundy, few places on earth hold so much promise as Central Otago. Though its track record as a pinot noir producer is barely a decade old, and its vineyard area quite small (2,350 acres), Central Otago can already stand comparisons with good, if not great, red burgundy. In a sign of just how far the region has come, the keynote speaker for its biannual pinot noir seminar, to be held later this month, will be Allen Meadows, editor of Burghound. This quarterly newsletter rates the wines of Burgundy with unparalleled thoroughness.Who’d have thought Mr. Meadows could be bothered with Central Otago?

Pinot noir is famously resistant to showing its true allure anywhere except on its home turf along the Cote d’Or, or “Golden Slope,” south of Dijon in Central France. And just what is the nature of that allure? It’s easier to first point out what classic pinot noir lacks: Unlike cabernet sauvignon, it isn’t ever the wine with the most purple tint, firmest backbone, or fiercest tannins. Unlike syrah or shiraz, it lacks inky color and leathery, peppery, or dark berry flavor.

What pinot noir does typically have is unsaturated cherry-red color, then aromas and flavors ranging from cherry to plum with a touch of spice ranging from cinnamon to vanilla or even earthy coffee. Herbal tones are, or ought to be, minimal. Strange as it may sound, a touch of “barnyard” funk can make pinot noir that much more fetching.

Texture is also key. A burgundianstyle wine works best when it is round rather than angular, fleshy rather than boney. The better it is, the more you’ll sense that below the first layer of flavor is another. And below that, still another.

All the above descriptors for big league pinot noir don’t perfectly fit each and every Central Otago version any more than they fit contenders from Oregon and California. Still, with the right glass of Central Otago pinot noir in hand, the overall resemblance to burgundy can be striking, especially the fleshiness and layering of flavors.

What is it about Central Otago that is so pleasing? With its thrusting hills and landscape, it couldn’t look less like the gentle, green, burgundian homeland. But Central Otago is protected from the immediate influence of the seas.It is the one region of New Zealand that is like Burgundy in that it has a continental climate: cold in winter, warm in summer.

What may be most crucial to its success, however, is Central Otago’s long and normally dry harvest period. This allows the almost ripe grapes to have leisurely “hang time” during which aromatics and flavor compounds can intensify and deepen. It’s also noteworthy that Central Otago is the southern most wine-growing region on earth. As Blair Walter, of Felton Road (one of the most critically acclaimed of the region’s wineries) puts it: “The French understand that if you push the limit of your geography, your grapes can reap the reward.”

Just how great that reward will ultimately be for the winemakers of Central Otago must remain unknown for now. The Burgundians, after all, spent around seven centuries learning the tricks of pinot noir, while the Otagites have been at it for barely a decade. Rudi Bauer, the Austrian-born winemaker of Quartz Reef, another lauded Central Otago winery, puts the challenge in perspective: “To reveal pinot noir in its true essence is the greatest gift in the wine world. We in Central Otago have the chance to do that, and we’re part of a sequence of growers who will be trying to do that for the next 50 years. If we cut the diamond wrong, it will be our mistake.”

RECOMMENDED CENTRAL OTAGO PINOT NOIR

Felton Road Pinot Noir 2003 ($47.95 at Sherry-Lehmann), Mount Difficulty Pinot Noir ($29.99 at Astor Wines), Ollsen’s Pinot Noir “Jackson Barry” 2003 ($32.95 at Astor Wines), Amisfield Pinot Noir ($29.99 at Sherry-Lehmann) Cornish Point “Drystone” Pinot Noir 2003 ($29.95 at Sherry-Lehmann).