Valli Wines Gibbston Pinot Noir 2016
- Decanter
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James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Gentle peony notes on the nose signal elegance and charm. The texture is of velvet: dense and taut with a gentle brush. The fruit is ripe and suggests mulberry and red cherry. Such an elegant expression of Gibbston, this is lovely and lasting, with real potential.
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James Suckling
A nose of wild herbs and flowers to this fragrant, elegant pinot noir with red fruits, plenty of spice and gently peppery herbs. Some stony notes too. On the palate there is a vibrant surge of acidity that delivers tart, mouth-watering cherry fruit. Fine, taut and tidy.
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Wine Spectator
Shows presence and structure, with herbal and licorice notes setting up the framework for the dense and spicy blackberry and cherry flavors at the core. Fine-grained tannins and spicy black tea details fan out on the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Gibbston is the coolest of the Central Otago subregions, but it's also Valli's home base. The 2016 Gibbston Vineyard Pinot Noir (from a warmer vintage), boasts knockout aromas of rose hip tea, cranberries and raspberries. It's medium-bodied, with a firm but silky web of tannins to support the fruit and a taut, lingering finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Heading into full-bodied territory by Pinot standards, this wine comes straight out of the gate with aromas of ripe cherry, cola, violet and charred oak. The palate is more dialed down and the fruit less overtly ripe. It's backed by an earthy, herbaceous spine and wrapped in muscular, angular tannins. The oak rears its head, and is a little bitter, on the finish, but there is nevertheless elegance amidst the power.
Valli is the personal vocation of pioneering Otago winemaker, Grant Taylor. "Grant’s name is synonymous with Otago Pinot Noir. He has been crafting wines in the region since 1993 when there were only 20 hectares planted - today there are over 2,000. Grant’s accomplishments are well known in the wine world and he is credited with winning the Best Pinot Noir Trophy at a major International Wine Competition in London an unprecedented four times – a feat achieved by no other winemaker in the world. Established in 1998, Grant founded Valli with the aim of creating true representations of Otago’s subregions with unflinching intensity and purity. This was also a first for the region – no one had attempted to capture, let alone master the developing sub-regional plot that has now begun to unfold as the next exciting chapter in the Otago wine story
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.”
Home to the globe’s most southerly vineyards, which are cultivated below the 45th parallel, Central Otago is a true one-of-a-kind wine growing region, but not only because of its extreme location.
Central Otago is more dependent on one single variety than any other region in New Zealand—and it isn’t Sauvignon blanc. They don’t even make Sauvignon blanc there.
Pinot Noir claims nearly 75% of the region’s vineyards with Pinot Gris coming in a far second place and Riesling behind it. This is also New Zealand’s only wine region with a continental climate, giving it more diurnal and seasonal temperature shifts than any other.
The subregion of Bannockburn has enjoyed the most success historically but the area’s exceptional growth has moved to the promising regions of Cromwell/Bendigo and Alexandra districts. Central Otago is known for its fruity and full-bodied Pinot noir. With the freedom to experiment here, growers and winemakers are easily exhibiting the area’s great potential.