Winemaker Notes
A virtual fruit compote loaded with juicy strawberries, blackberries and blackcurrants – gently poached and lightly infused with cloves, Chinese five-spice and stem ginger. An intensely perfumed Marlborough pinot with fruit sweetness, floral highlights and a distinct smoky fragrance. The full-flavored palate is chock-full of red and black fruit and has great length, firm but delicate tannins and a delicious spicy finish.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Cherry preserves, cocktail bitters, dusty, peppery spice and dried flowers are all at the fore on this fragrant, easy-to-like Pinot. There’s a brightness and lightness to the fruit, thanks to lovely acidity. It’s all wound up in well structured, textural tannins, with a mineral through line. A tightrope of elegance, power and age-worthiness, this hasn’t reached its peak yet and has perhaps a decade left in it.
-
James Suckling
This is a deliciously spicy and complex pinot with aromas of spiced cherries, tea leaves, cedar, grilled herbs, smoke and potpourri. Rich in both flavor and texture, with plush tannins and a medium body. Long and spicy.
-
Wine Spectator
Vibrant, with aromatics leaping out of the glass, including palo santo, sandalwood and a touch of singed tobacco, which complement the blackberry, blueberry and huckleberry flavors. Reveals spice notes of star anise, fennel and nutmeg, with a touch of green tea lingering on the finish.
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.