"It's immediately appealing on the nose showing sweet plum, olive, roasted nut and warm spice aromas. The palate is equally charming with juicy fruit intensity together with smooth texture and well-rounded tannins, finishing silky and soothing. At its best: now to 2026" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Apr 2022

Garnet. Savoury aromas with notes of ripe berry fruit and dried thyme. A rich and fruit forward Pinot Noir with flavours of black cherry and cranberry with a hint of spice. Elegant with a lovely, refined powdered structure leading to a long toasty finish. Drinking beautifully from release date, this wine can be enjoyed young or with careful cellaring will mature into a more complex wine that can be enjoyed for the next three years.

The fruit was sourced from a number of specifically chosen low cropping vineyards from the Southern Valleys region of the Wairau Plain. Leading up to harvest each vineyard was closely monitored and tasted to determine when the flavours were at their optimum and harvested in the cool of the morning.

At the winery each batch (or vineyard) was held cold for five days prior to fermentation to help with colour and flavour extraction. The juice was then inoculated with yeast for the primary alcoholic fermentation and hand plunged up to eight times daily during the height of fermentation. When dry each batch was pressed to tank, settled and then racked off gross lees to either stainless steel tanks or a mixture of new and older seasoned French oak. The wine underwent 100 per cent malolactic fermentation before being blended, fined, lightly filtered and gently prepared for bottling.

Food Pairing: Well matched with garlic and rosemary lamb rack with a side of fresh lettuce and pistachio salad.