Winemaker Notes
This Pinot Noir displays a medium purple color. Aromas of fresh cherries, omega plums and a hint of chocolate dominate the nose. An underlying spicy, mushroom complexity is quite evident. Sweet fruit dominates and delivers a big, textured, and concentrated palate with persistence and length. The silky tannin structure and subtle oak treatment complement the rich fruit, giving a beautifully integrated and balanced wine. This wine is ready to drink now. Pair this with red meats, game and mature cheeses.
"Tart, tangy and distinctive for its raw-edge style, offering blueberry, dusky spice and metal flavors that linger on the crisp finish. Drink now through 2007."- 88 pts- Wine Spectator, November 2003
Professional Ratings
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.”
Part of the Wairarapa region in the southern end of the country’s North Island, Martinborough is a bucolic appellation full of artisan, lifestyle wine producers. Above all else, their goals are to tend vineyards for low yields and create wines of supreme quality. Pinot noir is the main grape variety here, occupying over half of the land under vine.
Comparing topography, climate and soils, the region is nearly identical to Marlborough except that it produces top quality reds on the regular.