Winemaker Notes
Medium ruby heart with red hue. Aromas of ripe red cherries and plums, underneath are wild raspberries and freshly crushed currants. Classic forest undergrowth, clove, dark spice, and bramble notes surround the fruit while purple florals give everything a lift. An alive palate of fresh dark red fruits, fine grained tannin, well integrated oak. The structure is built around a gentle core of acidity which give freshness to the wine and is capped off with an oyster shell reprise that resonates.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Distinctive forest berry aromas of wild blueberry, cranberry and strawberry—with subtle florals, baking spices and warm earth—open this Pinot, from a geologically fascinating site in New Zealand’s Waipara region, north of Christchurch. Several years in bottle has unraveled the palate into something silky and poised. There’s a plushness here, and no shortage of fruit, with beautiful freshness and fine tannin structure.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Waimanu Pinot Noir is fleshy and red fruited with star anise and licorice, pomegranate and strawberry top. In the mouth, the tannins have a pulverized, fine feeling, and the fruit sort of glides along the top of it all. Satisfying and pleasurable.
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.