Winemaker Notes
Wairau River's Estate Pinot Noir is bright raspberries and red cherries combined with savory oak (from spending 9 months in French barriques) making it extremely approachable, bright and easy drinking.
Any red meat goes well with this wine, or try with a cheeseboard.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Earth tones and dusty red tea gratify, surrounded by red cherry cola. Bright cranberry seasoned with cinnamon emerges midway and lasts through the finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Like the turn of a pepper grinder, this is full of fresh white pepper aromas, laced with pomegranate, red berry and anise, with a cool stone nuance. The palate is vibrant and fresh with a tug of savory tannins and lovely tangy red berries. There’s a lightness here that provides ease, and a quiet power that adds complexity, all at an affordable price.
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.”
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.