Pyramid Valley Angel Flower Pinot Noir 2016
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
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Winemaker Notes
The 2016 Pyramid Valley Angel Flower Pinot Noir is a dense, sustained ruby/garnet color. Dizzyingly aromatic, swells from the glass: indurate spice – clove, cumin, caraway, cassia; ripe and bright red fruit – raspberry, redcurrant, Morello cherry. Quite a head-spinning, aromatic ride. Penetrating, juicy, sappy, brisk yet enveloping; vibrant flavors of red fruit and spice; also a lively earthy component that is relatively new to this vineyard, arriving in recent vintages: born of vine age and a deeper root structure.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A wine with considerable, deep-set, spicy allure that has aromas of dried roses, blueberries, purple cherries and pot-pourri. The palate delivers a beautifully plush array of fine and seamless tannins, an exceptionally smooth mouthfeel and a long, alluring and convincing finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Angel Flower Pinot Noir, like its Earth Smoke stablemate, is a delicate ruby hue in the glass, showing that color (at least in Pinot Noir) often has very little to do with flavor or intensity. On the nose, delicate herbal and floral nuances dance atop a base of freshly turned earth and ripe black cherries. In the mouth, it's medium to full-bodied, rich and concentrated yet silky and fresh, with a lingering, elegant finish that ends on an uplifting herbal note. It should drink well for a decade, perhaps longer.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant spiced cherry and raspberry flavors are creamy and seamless, set on a light body, revealing details of clove, tobacco and fresh earth. Shows plenty of harmony, with minerally hints that add tension on the finish. Drink now through 2029.
Other Vintages
2013-
Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
Wines that breathe of their place: Our story begins in a magical place where magnificent native birds once roamed and soared, where the earth produces in abundance and the stars align for greatness. This unique site of altitude, limestone, slope, rock and rich soil is our Waikari Estate and home to some of the most profound Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines in the world. In 2018 our story breathed a new chapter when we purchased a new vineyard, the Manata Estate in Lowburn, Central Otago. The vineyard has produced exceptional Pinot Noir since 2002 and is home to our Central Otago Pinot Noir. Across both sites biodynamic viticulture and a natural approach to winemaking create handcrafted wine that breathes of its place and tastes like nowhere else on earth.
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.