te Pa Pinot Noir 2021

Reviews

Global Pinot Noir Masters 2023: Master. 

Cameron Douglas MS: 94/100.  Aromas and flavours of dark cherry and boysenberry then vanilla spices of wood and a light tasty barrel quality. Youthful taut and lively. The pinosity continues as the wine opens up in the glass with a mineral quality showing as dry stone. There’s also a light dried herb quality. Balanced, well made, youthful and vivacious. Best drinking from late 2022 through 2029.

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit: 94/100. Immensely charming with seductive complexity, the wine shows dark plum, sweet cherry, rich floral, hazelnut and subtle spice aromas on the nose. The palate delivers excellent weight and fruit purity, splendidly complemented by spicy/savoury nuances. Supple and silky with a persistent velvety finish. At its best: now to 2030.

Tasting Note

The 2021 te Pa Pinot Noir is intensely perfumed, dense, and ripe with dark brooding fruit and layers of spice. It possesses complex aromatics with ripe fruits, savoury earthy notes, perfumed florals, and smoky oak spice. The palate is complex yet balanced, with dark plum and fleshy red fruit flavours balanced by a vein of Christmas cake spice, and youthful acidity. Oak derived smoke and mocha notes are beautifully integrated with the fruit derived cinnamon and liquorice.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: red wine

Grape varial: 100% Pinot Noir

Food match: Lamb, venison, beef, pork, nutty cheeses, mushroom dishes

Wine region: Marlborough, New Zealand.

Vineyards: The Westhaven Vineyard is nearing 20 years old and is located on the northern side of the same hill as our Redwood Hills property. This cooler site with a sunny aspect has a long ripening period which assists with the development of fruit spice and other secondary Pinot Noir characters. The vineyard is planted in four clones - 667, 777, 115, and 114 and consistently produces high quality fruit. The Raupo Vineyard is organically managed and is of a similar age to the Westhaven site. Located in the Omaka Valley it is a warmer site with clay rich soils producing wines with good tannin structure and density. Planted in a range of clones, it was the 777 clone that made this cuvee. Both vineyards share the similarities of being planted in clay rich soils on north facing slopes.

Vintage: The growing season was warm and compressed, with early season frosts leading into cold and unsettled weather at flowering. The resulting bunches were small with low berry counts, which decreased yields but added greatly to the concentration of the wines. Post-flowering the growing season was warm and settled, with just enough early season rain to keep the canopies green and healthy. The patchy set followed by a dry summer kept the berry size and bunch weights small throughout their development which resulted in densely coloured, rich, ripe and concentrated Pinot Noirs.

Winemaking: The 2021 te Pa Pinot Noir was blended from two stand out batches. The Raupo 777 block was hand-picked on the 22nd of March and was selected for its pure fruit expression (florals and blackberries), fine ripe tannins and silky, yet concentrated palate. The Westhaven 667 batch was hand-picked on the 3rd of April and contributed a rich, dense, and softly structured palate with dark spicy fruit characters. Both batches were fermented in open top fermenters with whole bunches ranging from 10% to 20%. These whole bunch components express perfumed floral aromatics, succulent red fruits, and lingering spice flavours. The individual batches were all cold soaked for 5-7 days and left on skins for a further 7- 15 days post-fermentation to build structure and harmonise the tannins. The wine was matured in French oak barrels for 11 months - 30% of which were new.

Alcohol: 14% vol

Residual sugar: <1 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Cellaring potential: 2028+

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: te Pa Family Vineyards Ltd, 515 Wairau Bar Road, R.D.3, Blenheim Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand