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Tasting notes
From McCreanor vineyard with 27-year-old vines on slightly heavier soils and all clone AM 10/5. Hand harvested, fermented with ambient yeast. Total maceration time c 17 days with hand-plunging in open-top wooden fermenters. Aged in French oak for 18 months, 30% new. TA 5.2 g/l, pH 3.61. More immediate oak impact and vanilla-laced sweetness on the nose but also a slight cedary/herbaceous character – the whole-bunch effect (at least 50%, apparently)? Like the Escarpment regional blend, this has a lovely dry finesse in that chalky texture and a fresh purity that leaves your mouth feeling clean. Almost a volcanic dustiness. The Pinot equivelent of Chablis? May 2016, www.jancisrobinson.com, Drink: 2016-2022
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
About the producer
Based in Martinborough, Escarpment is one of New Zealand’s leading producers of Pinot Noir. The estate’s top cuvée Kupe is widely regarded as a benchmark example of the region’s potential for producing world-class Pinot Noir.