Winemaker Notes
Some wines show many faces and so is true for this wonderful Pinot Noir. In its youth, the wine is exhilaratingly fresh with infinite facets of crimson rhubarb, garnet cranberry and bright hibiscus. With age the wine reveals another personality all together. Earthier notes emerge in the background, bringing to mind the smell of cool black soil. However, taking center stage is a soulful bouquet of dried rose, freshly brewed chicory coffee and warm slices of toasted bread slathered in wild cherry preserves. Overall the experience is as if your mouth has been magically transported to the kitchen of some wonderfully rustic farmhouse on an autumn morning. If there ever was a "Breakfast Pinot" this would be it!
Drink with good food and good friends.
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.