Winemaker Notes
Deep burgundy in color with a crimson hue. A plethora of brambled fruits and porcini mushrooms lead the bouquet. With an exciting and vibrant palate, a red-fruited core wraps the velvet tannin with an undeniable depth of flavor—a long road ahead for this wine that will reward with age.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Ripe strawberry, orange peel, and meat with some earth on the nose. Full-bodied with a pure and solid core of ripe strawberry fruit. Fine, velvety tannins. Layered and beautiful.
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Wine Enthusiast
Luscious berry aromas take the lead on this concentrated Pinot from one of New Zealand’s best-known red producers. The florals, vanilla and toasty spice notes are just whispers for the moment. The silky palate is rich and primary, with layers of flavor that are still tightly packed in.
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Wine Spectator
Both elegant and powerful, with raspberry coulis and black cherry flavors, plus hints of star anise and cardamom that mingle with fresh earth, toasted green tea and chicory notes on a plush frame. Drink now through 2032. 196 cases imported.
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.