Rippon "Emma's Block" Mature Vine Pinot Noir 2020

Reviews

James Suckling (JamesSuckling.com): 98/100 & #15 Top 100 Wines of New Zealand 2023. This is so opened and perfumed with sliced strawberry, orange and fresh mushroom. Full, velvety and caressing texture and finish. Articulate. Seductive. Drink or hold.

Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 95+/100. The 2020 Emma's Block Mature Vine Pinot Noir leads with dehydrated cranberry, cherry blossom, graphite and dried star anise. The nose is exotic and restrained at once. This is the entree to the palate which is dened absolutely by the tannins that feel very much like they plume in the wine, like a drop of blood in water. These are wines to feel as much as they are to taste, and this is what helps them stand alone in this place. It’s superb, with unbroken form through the long nish—no strays, no rough edges, no breaks. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under Diam. The vines are east facing and close to the lake, with less afternoon sun (which means it isn't exposed to the extended heat of the afternoon). "There is clay down there which gives the tannins more mobility and animation," says Nick Mills. Drink Date: 2023 - 2035.

Tasting note

Complex aromas of cranberries, ripe strawberries, star anise and hints of mushrooms. Full-bodied with chewy tannins and a long, flavorful finish. This is full and structured, with velvet tannins.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: red wine

Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir

Food match: Match with lamb dishes and Mediterranean cuisine.

Winemaking: Picked by hand into small, 10kg cases allowing the fruit to arrive at the winery’s sorting table undamaged and intact. Picked and fermented separately in 3, 2-tonne stainless-steel fermenters. 19% whole cluster. Each parcel is fermented and matured apart before blending. The winery’s resident yeast population (non-inoculated) took 10 days to ferment; and spanned temperatures between 11-28° Celsius. Total time of skin contact: 21 and 28 days. 12 months of new (23%) to 4 year old French oak barrels. The malolactic fermentation went through unaided (non-inoculated) in springtime; it was then racked back into barrel and allowed a second winter in neutral barrels before being run directly into bottle without filtering or fining. Total time in barrel: 18 months.

Cases produced: 210

Cellaring potential: 2032+

Decanting: Recommended

Alcohol: 13.5% vol

Residual sugar: <2 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulfite

Produced and bottled with loving care by: Rippon Vineyard and Winery Ltd., 246 Wanaka-Mount Aspiring Road, Wanaka 9381, New Zealand

Imported and distributed with pride by: vinabonus GmbH, Simmedenweg 40, 34134 Kassel, Germany

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