Tablelands Pinot Noir 2013
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This captures the earthy savor that pinot noir can achieve under the right conditions, with tangy tannins directing the lasting raspberry perfume. The acidity has a citrus note, like tangerine, adding to the firm grip of the structure. Simon Buck and Magnus Riddiford, the partners behind Tablelands, met while working to promote New Zealand wine in New York.
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2015-
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What makes Tablelands different? Both Simon and Magnus have family wine in their DNA with a combined 20 years of in depth experience in the US market. Tablelands is named after the Riddiford ancestral home in Martinborough. That combination of New Zealand roots and US expertise gives the Tablelands wine company an edge when communicating to customers in the market. Sophisticated with charming kiwi authenticity.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
At the southern end of the North Island about an hour drive from New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington, Wairarapa’s producers are mainly small-scale, lifestyle winemakers. The region holds less than 3% of the country’s acreage under vine but nearly one tenth of its winemakers.
Considering topography, soil and climate, Wairarapa is similar to Marlborough except that it is better at producing Pinot noir. Martinborough is a main subregion.