Escarpment Kiwa Pinot Noir 2014
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James
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Bright ruby red, the bouquet has complexity with notes of black cherries and plum fruit. Lovely softness and texture in the mouth.
Pairs well with all game dishes and roast beef.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A gently smoky and highly nuanced nose offers discreet yet complex sappy notes as well as a lighter stony and almost chalky edge. Beautifully ripe red and dark cherries grow and grow in the glass. The palate has a curvy, fleshy shape to it; it's really smooth and supple thanks to nut-ripe tannins. Hints of graphite-like savory flavours and bright dark cherry fruit power through the neatly framed, crisp finish. Best from 2018.
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Wine Enthusiast
Of Larry McKenna's 2014 Pinots, this full-bodied offering is the most approachable right now. A rich, velvety texture underscores elegant notes of brown sugar, tea, cherries and cinnamon. Drink now–2030.
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Wine Spectator
Gravelly tannins give a muscular background to distinct mineral and white pepper flavors, with licorice and anise, cedar and tobacco notes. Robust on the finish. Drink now through 2026.
Other Vintages
2017-
James
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- Decanter
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James
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Robert
Parker
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Robert
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Escarpment Vineyard was established in 1999 as a joint business venture between Robert & Mem Kirby (of Australia's Village Roadshow) and Larry & Sue McKenna. Collectively, these four directors bring to Escarpment a world of experience, skill and understanding to the nurturing and making of fine, deliciously sublime wine. It goes without saying the impetus behind establishing this vineyard came from the four's deep love for Pinot Noir. Meeting by chance in 1999 through Dr Richard Smith, Larry and Robert quickly hit it off and realised they had more than a love for the grape in common. Serious talk about establishing a definitive New World vineyard began in earnest even then and the 'idea whose time has come' has resulted in one of the most significant vineyard developments in the New Zealand district of Martinborough. Escarpment is accredited with Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand, an industry initiative directed through New Zealand Winegrowers. With a growing trade and consumer demand for environmentally friendly products, it provides an important platform to promote the New Zealand wine industry as a world leader in clean, green wine production.
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.”
Part of the Wairarapa region in the southern end of the country’s North Island, Martinborough is a bucolic appellation full of artisan, lifestyle wine producers. Above all else, their goals are to tend vineyards for low yields and create wines of supreme quality. Pinot noir is the main grape variety here, occupying over half of the land under vine.
Comparing topography, climate and soils, the region is nearly identical to Marlborough except that it produces top quality reds on the regular.