Winemaker Notes
A fine, pure and elegant nose, with hints of smoke, cherry and pepper aromas. A juicy and giving palate of dark fruit and licorice is balanced by silky texture and generous tannins. A great definition of Pinot Noir from the clay blocks on the estate.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
From older vines on 100% clay soils, this has a complex, undergrowthy and leafy nose with darker cherries and plum fruit. The palate has a finely detailed texture and attractive, grainy tannins that lead to a sturdy, commanding finish. Drink now to 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Pinot Noir has a pale ruby color and slowly evolving nose of warm cranberries, mulberries and kirsch with underlying notes of black earth, truffles and mossy bark. It packs a lot of red berry and earth flavor layers into an elegant, medium-bodied palate, with firm, chewy tannins and a refreshing acid line to support, finishing with lingering savory notes.
Rating: 91+ -
Wine Enthusiast
This wine from the Loire-based Bourgeois family marries impressive ripeness with bright, red-fruit flavors. Vanilla and oak spice accent pomegranate and red-currant notes, then add a velvety texture to the long finish. Drink now–2024.
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.