Awards and Accolades

2013 Vintage:
4.5 Stars & Best Buy - Cuisine Magazine
GOLD - 2014 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition
SILVER - 2015 San Francisco Wine Competition
SILVER - 2015 Selections Mondiales des Vins (Canada)
SILVER - 2014 Air New Zealand Wine Awards
SIVLER - 2014 Marlborough Wine Show
BRONZE - Spiegelau International Wine Show

From the Winery:

Light ruby red with hints of brick. Mysterious and spicy, this aromatic and savoury Pinot Noir has a more European nose than many new world wines, with layers of complexity evolving each time you swirl your glass. Richer and more weighty than one would expect from the colour, with lavours of red fruits, cinnamon, star anise and charcuterie. The palate is long and balanced with long pleasant tannins providing a framework for this complex wine.

This Pinot Noir blends fruit from two Southern Valleys’ vineyards – 55% from our home Sound of White vineyard in the Waihopai Valley, with the balance from the dry grown Clayridge vineyard in the Omaka Valley – both clay based hillside blocks with scattered clonal plantings. Fruit was hand-harvested and largely de-stemmed into open fermenters, retaining approximately 5% whole bunches. All parcels were given a minimum 3 day cold soak prior to fermentation, which occurred naturally in all cases with 2 plunges daily. ‘Hot barrel ferments’ were drained off to 4 new French oak barriques at the peak of ferment to create an interesting, savoury char component to the blend, while the open fermenters continued to dryness. The batches remained on skins for 18 to 25 days before being pressed to a combination of new (20%) 1, 2 and 3 year old French barriques