Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Attractive fruit purity in the red cherry zone with attractive oak too that's just melding together; this is spicy and frisky. The palate has some riper tannins in play, and there are dark plum and mocha flavors intertwined. This just holds on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
Opens with clean red fruit flavors and a nice spicy note, with details off dried flowers, crushed herbs and red licorice, accented by a touch of white pepper. Bright, crisp and complex. Drink now through 2025.
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.”
On the central eastern coast of the South Island, Canterbury includes a collection of small and varied subregions. The region is cool and dry with low rainfall and light, infertile soils. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are well-suited here, with Pinot Gris coming in third place.