Winemaker Notes
The wine has a vibrant ruby appearance. The bouquet is packed with red and dark fruit, (raspberry, pomegranate and cherry), with hints of pepper and spice. Layered beneath there are also savoury notes that speak of grilled game and black olive tapenade. The palate is satisfyingly concentrated with fine grained tannins, however there is a refreshing minerality which ensures the wine remains tight and focused, with a lasting finish. A slightly reduced time in oak has resulted in a harmonious style, one that that is mouth-filling yet elegant.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Wild herbs and bracken with red fruit and darker, more earthy notes. Rose hips, black tea and plums. The palate has a dense, succulent and seamlessly polished, tightly wrapped feel. Long and taut. Needs time. Drink in 2022. Screw cap.
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Decanter
Vibrant and youthful, with dark cherry, violets and a hint of smoke. Concentrated and intense on the palate, with a lingering finish. Classy.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with 40% whole clusters, the 2016 Pinot Noir looks to be the finest regular Peg Bay Pinot in some time. Its spicy, stemmy, sappy notes are balanced by bright, fresh black cherry fruit. It's medium-bodied, with a silky feel and a lingering finish that echoes with attractive tea-like nuances.
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.”
At the southern end of the North Island about an hour drive from New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington, Wairarapa’s producers are mainly small-scale, lifestyle winemakers. The region holds less than 3% of the country’s acreage under vine but nearly one tenth of its winemakers.
Considering topography, soil and climate, Wairarapa is similar to Marlborough except that it is better at producing Pinot noir. Martinborough is a main subregion.