Nick Stock's Good Wine Guide 2011 Best New Zealand Pinot Noir and 97 points!!
Bob Campbell 96 points!!
Ralph Kyte-Powell five stars!
Tyson Stelzer 96 points!
Nick Stock's Good Wine Guide 2011 Best New Zealand Pinot Noir!
"It's going to be a hard wine to knock off for this award, and 2009 is yet another stunning wine. Ethereal complexity, depth and palate weight. You'll struggle to find better quality and value outside of Burgundy."
Nick Stock, Good Wine Guide 2011
Nick Stock 97 points!
"The icon is in fine form once again, showing all the haunting complexity and swirling grace that sets this wine apart as New Zealand's pre-eminent pinot noir. The perfumed, light, sweet rose petals are here - really sweet and alluring - along with plenty of ripe red-cherry fruits and all manner of fine-dusted spices scattered throughout. The palate sweeps out a web of finely meshed tannin that has incredible depth, yet carries an immense sense of delicacy and elegance. Bright cherry flavours run the gamut, there's some toasty French oak built into the mix, and the whole lot lifts effortlessly through the finish, leaving a tangy, balanced impression. Superb, once again."
Nick Stock, Good Wine Guide 2011
Bob Campbell 96 points!
"A heady, perfumed mix of floral, cherry, plum and spice flavours in an elegant style. This is a wine of surprising power that lingers tantalisingly long after it has been swallowed. Truly seductive."
Bob Campbell, Gourmet Wine Traveller April/May 2011
"Crushed rose petal, red fruits and cherry stone meld with a seam of spice on the nose in this rich and opulent, 2009 Pinot Noir. The immediate impression on the palate is of a very serious wine; a broad spread of dark fruits and deep, savoury notes, with the classic 'peacock's tail' burst of flavour at the end. Particularly dense, ripe, layered tannins are very fine, providing a long, driven finish. Vine age is now undoubtedly a factor in the distinctive 'expression of place' so evident in the glass. There's a tension and purity of character that we're very, very excited about and we look forward to following the evolution of this very special pinot noir.
The 2009 vintage is definitely one 'to have and to hold' though preferably not till death do you part! The vines were a picture of health right through the season thanks to intermittent and well-timed early season rain, while April was magically fine and dry for the long harvest. With close to 60 tiny plots of Pinot all within metres of one another on adjacent blocks, familiarity with almost every single vine is virtually a requirement of the job. Grapes from vines that range in age from 10 to 30 years are meticulously hand-sorted as they arrive at the winery, with individual blocks and clones then fermented separately. About ten months later a blind tasting, barrel by barrel, decides the first 'cut'. Younger vine fruit tends to end up in Crimson, while the original 30-year old home block 'Gumboot Clone' and best plots of Dijon Clone invariably reach the quality level we seek in Ata Rangi's "Grand Cru"."
Ata Rangi
Ralph Kyte-Powell five stars!
"Ata Rangi pinot from Martinborough is a flagship New Zealand wine. The '09 is still in infancy, but the foundations of a great future are there: aromas of cherries, spices, game, stewed rhubarb and wild herbs are pungent but elegant, and the satiny palate is intense, sustained and fine, resting on balanced, lightly structured tannins. Have it with peking duck."
Ralph Kyte-Powell, The Age Epicure
Tyson Stelzer 96 points! "Another outstanding season for Martinborough's finest Pinot; delicate, fine, structural and persistent. Nuances of pink pepper, rose petal and cherry kernel linger long amid silky tannins and gravelly minerality."
Tyson Stelzer, WBM October 2011
Country:
New Zealand
Region:
NZ- Martinborough
Variety:
Wine Red - Pinot noir
Size:
750mL
