Winemaker Notes
Perfume, elegant fruit flavours, and soft ripe tannins are all hallmarks of this exceptional Pinot Noir.
Inspired by the classic wines of Burgundy, this Pinot Noir is a tribute to Martinborough’s unique terroir. It will cellar gracefully for up to 10 years.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The product of a warm, dry summer and balanced crop loads, this is a very strong vintage for this iconic Martinborough pinot noir. On the nose, plenty of fresh red cherries and spiced red plums come to the fore. Succulent, fluid and mouth-filling on the palate. The tannins are sturdy yet silky in a classic pinot style. Impressive concentration and freshness here. Screw cap. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Expressive, starting with a core of muscular blackberry and cherry flavors that expand to Earl Grey tea, rose petal and sarsaparilla details. Pepper and fresh earth notes are robust and present on the finish. Drink now through 2028.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Escarpment's 2016 Pinot Noir—essentially a blend of lots that didn't make the cut for inclusion in one of the named, single-vineyard wines—is still a solid offering. Cola and caramel notes accent black cherries in a medium to full-bodied wine that displays solid concentration and supple tannins, then finishes savory and fine, with a dusting of dried spices.
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.