Winemaker Notes
Garnet red in color, this unfiltered wine is laden with earthy spice aromas, bright red and dark fruits with a touch of red licorice and floral notes. On the palate, the wine has great fruit intensity while still showing classic Wairarapa savory elements. Long fine tannins make the wine linger and imprint a sense of place.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Martinborough may be the better known subregion of Wairarapa, but Gladstone delivers in quality, too, especially in the hands of talented winemaker Jannine Rickards. This currently offers oodles of primary fruit (think plump blueberries and stewed cherries), with florals, spice and a touch of vanillin oak. The midweight palate is plush with gently spicy, fine tannins supporting it.
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Wine Spectator
Supple and elegant, with generous ripe cherry and strawberry preserves at the core, along with hints of green olive, earth and dried rose petal that gain momentum on the finish, where a chai tea note lingers.
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.