ATA RANGI KOTINGA PINOT NOIR 2021

Winery notes (2021 Vintage)
"Early season frosts and cool weather during the flowering period resulted in low bunch numbers that were open and small berried. As a result, 2021 is a small yielding year in terms of quantity but concentrated and seamless in terms of weight and tannin. Weather conditions for the rest of season were kind and enabled us to harvest clean, impeccable fruit with ripe seeds and bright acid. This is the 2nd release of our Kotinga Pinot Noir. Made up entirely from the Dijon clones of 115, 667 and 777, this wine is high energy.

Bright fruit aromas of cherry, red currant, and plum stone, set the scene on the nose. The palate opens with a flourish of supple tannins uplifted with fluid acidity. Flavours of grapefruit and juniper spread through to the end of the palate. Aged in a 2280 litre foudre (very large oak barrel) instead of the traditional 228 litre barrique, to highlight and retain the bright crunchy qualities of Dijon clones grown on gravels. This is a delightful wine and unique expression of Martinborough that is playful now and will also reward cellaring."

98/100 Lisa Cardelli, WinePilot.com (2021 Vintage)
"This second release is screaming minerality, with a noticeable graphite-like foreword. Then cinnamon, bramble, a touch of clove, nutmeg, and cedar. Oak and whole bunches are not the only features here, as there is a noticeable amaro, Campari-like note, and aromatic herbs enriching the picture. Again, there is a seaweed-like salty element complemented by a lick of green walnut. It is a highly well-balanced wine; the palate being the exact photocopy of the nose, which, in case you ask, no, it’s not always that obvious. Light on its feet, yet bold. The precise line of acidity is caressing the palate and melting into a persistent length of flavours."

97/100 Emma Jenkins MW, Decanter UK, October 2024 (2021 Vintage)
"Bounds out of the glass with a lifted, floral perfume – spicy orange peel notes and plenty of generous fruit. The palate has lots of charm and immediacy, too. Plenty of midweight fruit, lots of vibrancy and energy. A good firm structure, with dry, savoury tannins that nicely offset the springy, spritely fruit. Excellent length. Inviting and ready to enjoy now though well placed to age gracefully. Organic."

97/100 JamesSuckling.com (2021 Vintage)
"Perfumed with ripe strawberries and fresh flowers, like pink roses, as well as some of their stems and leaves. Black mushrooms and hints of mulch. Medium- to full-bodied with polished and refined tannins that give a fine velvety texture and a long and flavourful finish. Stony undertone at the end. Hard not to drink if you like crunchy, young and serious pinot, but try to be patient."

97/100 Mike Bennie, James Halliday's Wine Companion (2021 Vintage)
"This is the second release from the Kotinga vineyard, a site on the edge of the river terrace of Martinborough. Produced in a large (2280L) foudre barrel. It's a striking wine for its tension, Italianate tannin profile, gossamer flow of dark cherry fruit, cranberry lift, pleasing earthiness and alpine herb detail. A gentle seasoning of hazelnut savouriness, too. There's a sense of inward concentration, brooding and dark fruit and spice drive with intent through the wine. All of this flecked with crushed quartz and limestone-like minerality; a crispness through the finish for pleasure. Magnificent, multidimensional and so darn satisfying."

96/100 Jamie Goode, WineAnorak.com, August 2025 (2021 Vintage)
"This is a single-vineyard Pinot with all-Dijon clones, raised in foudre. It’s bright, focused, floral and expressive with sweet cherry and raspberry fruit on the nose. Supple with nice depth. Textured and very fine with a core of sweet red fruits. Power meets elegance."

Rated Outstanding & 96/100 Cameron Douglas MS, February 2024 (2021 Vintage)
"A wonderful sense of place and variety with a bouquet of fresh flowers and soil, a savoury complexity then scents of cherries and plums, some raspberry compote and perfumes from lees and site. A dry wine touches the palate first, with a tautness and youthful energy, firm-ish yet ripe polished tannins. The palate takes a while to dissolve the tannins leaving behind a complex and engaging wines led by fruit, structure and poise. Acidity sets the backbone of the structure in place, along with tannins, then flavours of cherries and plums, then savoury spice layers return. Delicious, textured, velvety and long."

95/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, July 2025 (2021 Vintage)
"Liquorice, dark cherry, mint and dried herbs, five spice, duck fat, coffee bean and truffle. It’s sappy and earthy, a fine sooty feel to tannin, a blood orange charge to acidity, almost a stony character, with a tangy orange peel and radicchio finish of excellent length. A curious expression of Pinot Noir, but gee, also distinct and interesting with something of a Barbaresco character about it. Unusual, yet kind of compelling."

95/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, Wine Advocate (2021 Vintage)
"The 2021 Kotinga Pinot Noir leads with clove and ferrous, star anise and pomegranate. The mid-palate is sapid and intense and walks a tightrope of fleshy and tense. It has an energy that sits on the precipice of pleasure and pain, or an intensity akin to the focus required right in that second before you catch a ball. It's an utterly engaging wine. This is the best part about Pinot—intrigue and satisfaction."