Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Great depth and complexity to this fresh, layered and convincing pinot. Aromas of bright red fruit with fresh, sappy herbal notes and some stony nuances. The palate has a smooth, even draw of fine tannins, carrying plenty of fresh-fruit flavor.
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Wine Enthusiast
This French-owned and biodynamically made wine is starting to show a little bottle age, but in all the best ways. The red-berry fruit is still primary, but is accompanied by wisps of dried flowers and freshly ground savory herbs. There's a touch of vanilla too and an underlying stony earthy minerality. Texturally, it's silky, gripped gently by savory tannins that help structure the still primary red fruit and herbal and mineral nuances. Balanced and elegant with a long finish, this is drinking well now but should cellar nicely until 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The current release (in the United States) of Clos Henri's flagship red is the 2016 Pinot Noir. Showing a touch of evolution to its color with a slight bricking at the rim and a bouquet of leather, scorched cherries and sous-bois, it appears to be around its peak of drinkability. Silky and concentrated, this medium-bodied wine remains crisp and focused through the tart finish. Drink it over the next 3-5 years.
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.