Winemaker Notes
Deep blackish red. Dark brooding fruit aromas of black cherry, boysenberry with florals, truffle and tar. The palate is silkily structured, with layered fine tannins giving a texture of silk and rose petals. Flavors of the same black fruits and florals, backed with mushroom, bark, fennel and other spices. Dense yet elegant and poised. The finish gradually unwinds revealing bright red berry and violets.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
A little pistol of a wine, this packs a range of complex flavors into a tight space. Foresty red fruit flavors are at the center, surrounded by complex herbal notes ranging from black tea to woodland moss and something sharper, lie the bite of fresh parsley. Oak rounds any of the fruit's sharp edges to yield a velvet texture, youthfully compact with the energy to age well.
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Wine Spectator
Smooth and polished, weaving a hint of licorice into the huckleberry, raspberry and plum flavors. A wave of mineral character adds to the depth on the long, refined finish. Drink now through 2016.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With just 5% whole bunch ferment and one-third in French new oak, the delightful 2008 Te Muna Pinot Noir has well-defined nose with raspberry, strawberry and a touch of crushed stones and demonstrates far more clarity than Craggy's other Pinot Noir '08s. The palate is medium-bodied with firm but brittle tannins, slightly lower acidity than expected but with crisp cranberry and raspberry leaf towards the finish. This Pinot has delightful purity and sense of panache. Drink now-2018.
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Wine Enthusiast
Always dark in color and flavor profile. Craggy Range stays true to those traits with an excellent 2008 from its own Te Muna Road Vineyard. Hints of cocoa, dried herb and leather accent vibrant black cherry and plum flavors, while the tannins are silky and refined. Drink Now-2015
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.