Winemaker Notes
Aromas of ripe dark and red cherry, brambly fruits with a hint of smoky oak. Full bodied with round, mouth filling flavours of plum, brambly fruit and dark cherry. The oak integrates nicely with the fruit, and combines well with the silky and linear tannin structure.
Pair with venison, duck, game and oily fish such as tuna and salmon. Also good with tender, rare lamb and earthy wild mushrooms.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A fruity pinot noir with aromas of cherries, cranberries and sweet spices. Some smoke, too. Medium body with fresh acidity. Juicy and lively with lots of red fruit on the palate and a supple finish. Sheer and long. Drink now.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Astrolabe Pinot Noir delivers excellent weight and energy on the palate and into its finish. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers attractive aromas and flavors of black fruit and licorice. Enjoy its lively palate with grilled lamb. (Tasted: June 30, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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.”
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.