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.

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The Wine Writer

5 Stars

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A beautiful example of Central Otago Pinot Noir. Combining concentrated red and dark fruit flavours, floral notes, and delicious oak derived spice on a medium bodied palate, this is a lovely wine. Wonderfully balanced by a splash of acidity, the long, supple finish makes you want to taste another sip. Serve with a Sunday roast or a perfectly cooked steak.

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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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Bob Campbell – The Real Review

Score: 94 

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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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

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Harvest Information

Varietal: Pinot Noir

Harvest Method: Hand picked

Brix at harvest: 24.9

Harvest date: 1/4/20

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Winemaking overview

Fining: Unfined

Filtering: Unfiltered

Fermentation: Full ML

Barrels: Ana Selection 22% new

Whole Bunch: 30%

Time on skins: 24days

Wine Maker: Jen Parr

Wine Analysis

Residual Sugar: Dry

PH : 3.55

Total Acidity (g/l) : 5.5

Alcohol (%): 13.9

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