2021 PINOT NOIR
$55 per bottle incl. GST
Tasting Notes
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Jen Parr - March 2024
The bright garnet hue suggests freshness even after three years in the bottle. The "classic" conditions of the 2021 vintage in Bannockburn deliver a highly perfumed and savoury wine with lifted spice coming from the whole clusters used in the fermentation. The aromas include a wonderful medley of florals, red berries, damson plum, mushroom, and freshly tilled earth. The oak is nicely integrated, adding architecture to the wine and the modest alcohol (12.5%) is refreshing. The palate has a solid core with silky fine tannins, refined concentration, and a lingering finish. This vintage is enjoyable at release but has a long life ahead of it with much more to reveal for those who patiently cellar some bottles.
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Cameron Douglas – camdouglasms.com
95 Points - Outstanding –
Fantastic bouquet, precise and layered, aromas of savoury spiced red berries, cherry and boysenberry, then scents of crumbled stony soils and barrel spices. As the open opens out the bouquet expands to usher in scents of sage and wild thyme, wild forest berries and the sweet scents of French oak. Delicious on the palate, complex and dry, flavours reflect all that bouquet suggested wrapped in textures of polished tannins and medium+ acidity, layers of sweet French oak barrel flavours and a taut youthful squeeze. Nothing is too much for the palate to manage. Well made, lengthy and complex. Best drinking from 2026 through 2036. Outstanding value!
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Sam Kim - Wine Orbit – May 2024
95pts & 5 Stars
t's seductively complex on the nose, showing sweet cherry, dried mushroom, thyme and assorted nut aromas. The palate delivers excellent weight and velvety mouthfeel, wonderfully framed by finely infused tannins, finishing superbly long and expansive. At its best: now to 2033.
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Food Pairing Suggestions
Yakitori Chicken
Porchetta with Prune
Beef Eye Fillet Tagliata with Truffle Jus
Munster Cheese
Hiro Kawahara, Sommelier​​
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Technical specifications​​
Harvest Information
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Harvest Method: Hand picked
Brix at harvest: 23.2
Harvest date: 29/3/21
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Winemaking overview
Fining: Unfined
Filtering: Unfiltered
Fermentation: Full ML
Barrels: Ana Selection 25% new
Whole Bunch: 20%
Time on skins: 25days
Wine Maker: Jen Parr
Wine Analysis
Residual Sugar: Dry
PH : 3.58
Total Acidity (g/l) : 5.5
Alcohol (%): 12.5
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2020 PINOT NOIR
$55 per bottle incl. GST
Tasting Notes
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Jen Parr - March 2023
A deep ruby hue resulting from a cool growing season with low yields, suggesting great concentration and freshness even after three years in bottle. A heady perfume jumps out of the glass with lifted spice coming from the whole clusters used in the fermentation. Aromas of wild thyme, lilac, blueberry, blackberry and ripe cherry on the nose with the palate adding more dark berry and cedar. The oak is perfectly integrated, adding architecture to the wine without toasty flavours. The palate is intense and cohesive with silky tannins and refined concentration. This Pinot Noir has a serious core with an elegant intensity and salivating acidity that suggests it should be worthy of cellaring until at least 2035 (give or take a year or 2). A memorable vintage!
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Cameron Douglas – camdouglasms.com
95 Points - Outstanding – Wine of the week
A striking bouquet of place and time with aromas of spiced black plums and toasty French oak spices, black cherries and baked raspberry flesh. There’s myriad dried spices and earthy tones of hard rocks and wild thyme. The rugged landscapes of Central Otago are reflected in the heartbeat of the bouquet. Flavours on the palate mirror the bouquet, a youthful example with a taut texture, firm tannins and bold acid line. A wine that simply needs time to integrate. Complex and lengthy with best drinking from 2025 through 2035.
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Michael Cooper – michaelcooperwines.com – April 2020
Still very youthful, the vibrant 2020 vintage (5*) is a single-vineyard wine, hand-harvested at Bannockburn, matured in French oak casks (22 per cent new), and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Fragrant, mouthfilling and supple, it is a very elegant style, with deep, ripe cherry, plum and spice flavours, seasoned with nutty oak. Refined, complex and harmonious, it's well worth cellaring to 2025+.
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Mark Henderson – Otago Daily Times – July, 2023
Rating Excellent to Outstanding
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Nose leaps out of the glass, perfume, oak scents, tilled earth, savoury nuances, ripe fruits, a wild touch later. Sweetly fruited yet an attractively dry finish, the accent on raspberry & red fruits, savoury and wild herb nuances add complexity. Dances on the palate, lovely weight yet not over big, deceptively powerful tannins and wonderful carry. Balance.
Rating Excellent to Outstanding
Mark Henderson – Otago Daily Times – July, 2023
Sam Kim - Wine Orbit – March 2023
95pts & 5 Stars
Wonderfully fruited and perfumed, the bouquet shows dark cherry, smoked game, truffle, cedar and dried flower notes, leading to a gorgeously rounded palate delivering multi-layered mouthfeel combined with velvety texture and fine polished tannins. Soothing and gratifying. At its best: now to 2030.
Bob Campbell – The Real Review
Score: 94
Supple, elegant pinot noir with ripe black cherry, plum, floral/violet, spice and nutty oak flavours. Subtle wine with underlying power and a lengthy finish. Accessible now but with good cellaring potential. Best to aerate the wine for at least 30 minutes before serving. (Screwcap)
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Candice Chow – 24 April 2023
18.5+/20 pts (94 pts)
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Moderately deep ruby-red, lighter on edge. This has a concentrated, savoury bouquet packed with aromas of cherry, plum, dark herb, earthy forest, mushroom and spice. Medium-full bodied, intense black cherry and plum aromas melded with thyme, mushroom and forest floor, earthy minerals and cinnamon. The wine is generous with flavour and weight, persists with spice and fresh acidity to a long, savoury finish. Match with roasted lamb and duck over the next 8+ years. Handpicked, fermented with 30% whole bunches to 13.9% alc, 24 days total time on skins, aged 11 months in French oak, 20% new oak. Unfined, unfiltered.
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Yvonne Lorkin – yvonnelorkin.com – Arpil 2023
18.5pts, 4.5 Stars
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Made by the scarily talented Jen Parr from an 8-ha block of fruit grown by the Keillor family in Bannockburn, this new release pinot bursts with whipcrack freshness and personality. Crammed with black cherry, blueberry, rhubarb and rooibos tea leaf tones, it’s a lush, deliciously structured thing to drink. Youthful and awash with forest floor and floral notes, it also has a core of smoky, softly-scorched oak which adds to its richness and complexity. It’s lovely drinking now but built for the long haul too.
“Basically, the best row in a given vintage is chosen for the under 400 cases that Jen produces for us,” says consultant Guy Wright. “The vines are managed differently in the row over the growing season. So it’s kind of a single vineyard, mature-vine, row selection that the Vinous Genius Jen with Timbo Deakers support then attack.”
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Food Pairing Suggestions
Pancetta or salami
Grilled duck breast with berries
Mushroom and bacon risotto
Comte, aged Gauda, Taleggio are ideal cheeses
Hiro Kawahara, Sommelier
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Technical specifications
Harvest Information
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Harvest Method: Hand picked
Brix at harvest: 23.5
Harvest date: 28/3 and 4/4
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Winemaking overview
Fining: Unfined
Filtering: Unfiltered
Fermentation: Full ML
Barrels: Ana Selection 25% new
Whole Bunch: 30%
Time on skins: 19 & 25 days
Wine Maker: Jen Parr
Wine Analysis
Residual Sugar: Dry
PH : 3.6
Total Acidity (g/l) : 6.1
Alcohol (%): 13
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