Palliser Estate Pinot Noir 2023

Reviews

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit: 95/100. Elegant and seductive, the bouquet shows sweet cherry, dried herb, smoked game, earthy mushroom, and toasted almond characters. The palate delivers finely flowing mouthfeel and refined texture, gorgeously framed by beautifully pitched tannins, finishing splendidly long and soothing. At its best: now to 2033.

Cameron Douglas MS: 93/100.  Excellent intensity and power, varietal and earthy, aromas of strawberry and red plum, baked red berries and wood spices laced with a touch of barrel-smoke. Cinnamon, nutmeg and earth spice. A dry wine touches the palate with a firm texture and core of red berry fruit flavours, firm tannins and plenty of acidity frame the wine wine with the softness of fruit building complexity across the palate. An earlier drinking expression with best window from late 2025 through 2030+.

Stephen Wong MW (The Real Review): 93/100. Subtle, yet complex bouquet with layered aromas of puerh tea, brown figs and nutmeg wrapped around a core of savoury, black plum. The light-weight palate is highlighted by delicate berry fruit reflecting off the sweet oak notes. Lightly chewy tannins appear mid-palate, making space for measured complexity in the form of citrus peel, savoury spice, pomegranate and strawberry fruit strips. While lighter, it is a more contemplative wine with perfume and transparency. Maybe not for old bones but it will still develop and mature in the mid-term by virtue of its balance.

David Walker Bell, WineFolio: 93/100. A Pinot Noir with the majority of the fruit from Pallisers organic Hua Nui, Winery and Pencarrow vineyards in the Wairarapa. A bright, translucent ruby colour in the glass. Varietally distinctive, and showing very regional identifying scents of peat, smoked herbs and rare steak. Cinnamon, thyme, sumac,  rose petal, mulberry, cherry and strawberry mingle in the complex bouquet. Quite savoury at first, with a dry, chalky tannin giving some grip. Crystalline acidity adds crispness as the fruit bleeds through before the palate takes another turn – going softer and showing off a silky texture. Evolving and revealing more as you go, this is a well-made example which should reward cellaring.

Tasting Note

The wine shows a pale ruby colour, with viscous legs running down the glass. The bouquet is perfumed and stylish, full of black and red cherries, mulberry, dusky florals, anise, and freshly mown summer hay. It is silky and supple on the palate, bursting with black forest fruits and savoury, dried herb complexity. The finish is long, with more than a hint of French elegance and savoir-faire. This is a Burgundian style of Martinborough wine for the true Pinot lover.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: Red wine from New Zealand

Food matching: Enjoy with Peking Duck, butterflied lamb or fresh venison.

Vineyards: Hua Nui, Winery and Pencarrow vineyards, Martinborough, New Zealand. Martinborough put New Zealand Pinot Noir on the world stage. With 51% of Palliser's vines planted in in this variety, giving just 36% of their total volume of wine, the yield is low but the quality high. Palliser Pinot Noirs are savoury and earthy, with fine, silky tannins.

Winemaking: A period of cold soak followed by wild fermentations and gentle pump overs and plunging. The wine is pressed to French oak barrels and left to mature for a period of 10 months during which time it undergoes malolactic fermentation to soften the wine and add complexity.

Cellaring potential: until 2033+.

Alcohol: 13.5% vol

Total Acidity: 5.3 g/l

Residual sugar: <1 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: Palliser Estate Wines of Martinborough Ltd, PO Box 121, Martinborough 5741, New Zealand

Distributor: vinabonus GmbH, Simmedenweg 40, 34134 Kassel, Germany

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