Black Estate winemaker Nicholas Brown has been awarded 2022 NZ Winemaker of the Year by Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine
Black Estate are one of the leading lights of an impressive line up of local wineries in North Canterbury. Winemaker Nicholas Brown is making the wines in a lo-fi sort of way, with organic and biodynamic principles leading the way. He has a passion for wines from the Loire Valley in France and as such a few years ago planted some Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc in their 'Home Vineyard' out the front of their now iconic architectural black building which houses the cellar door and restaurant (well worth a visit if you haven't already done so.) It is the former of these two which has taken our attention as a wine of real potential and quality.
This 2020 is the 7th vintage from these vines and it is clear that Nicholas is gaining an understanding of the site and the style which best suits this versatile variety. The resulting wine is dry with an impressive mouth-coating texture full of pretty florals, stonefruits and honeycomb backed by impressive acidity and mineral notes. This wine is unfiltered, unfined and has no added sulphites which results in a wine which is aptly described on the back label as "Mouth watering, Luminous, Alive".
An impressive effort that will reward those who wish to cellar although we can't see us being able to keep our hands of this as it is just so delicious right now!
Winery notes (2020 Vintage)
"Chenin Blanc from our top block at Home, growing mainly in Awapuni clay with calcium carbonate deposits. Smells like melon, guava, moon flower and white clover. Complex, and dense with flavours of blood orange, vanilla, blackcurrant leaf, liquorice and lanolin. Unfiltered, unfiltered and unsulphured wine with small amounts of sediment. Use your decanter.
Whole bunch pressed over 4 hours in a bag press. Juice drained to tank and then transferred to a 600L Demi Muid and one 228L barrel without settling. Fermented using a Home Vineyard yeast starter. 100% barrel fermentation and maturation for 21 months. 100% Malolactic fermentation. Bottled un-fined and unfiltered with no added sulphites."
Reviews for previous vintages below…
Rated Excellent & 94/100 Cameron Douglas MS, August 2020 (2018 Vintage)
"Classic, fruity and very fragrant with aromas of flowers and baked apple, an oat-cereal note then pear and a whisper of cider. On the palate – delicious, dry, fresh, textured and packed with flavours of baked apple and pear, white flowers, wet chalk, creaming soda and spice. High acidity, fresh and focused, balanced and well made with a very fine mealy textured finish. A wine that will last in your cellar till 2030 gaining toasty more complex attributes as it ages. It is also drinkable today as an aperitif."
5 Stars Michael Cooper (2018 Vintage)
"Certified organic, the distinctive 2018 vintage was estate-grown at Omihi, hand-picked, barrel-fermented with indigenous yeasts, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Light gold, it is a mouthfilling, youthful, energetic wine with a strong surge of ripe, peachy, slightly spicy flavours, a subtle seasoning of oak adding complexity and a crisp, bone-dry, lasting finish. Best drinking 2022+."
94/100 James Suckling (2019 Vintage)
"Beautifully pure aromas of chamomile, lemon peel and sliced apple with some light pie-crust notes, too. The palate has a very powerful and focused delivery of crisp apple and lemon flavours. Long lines of acidity enliven the finish. Drink or hold."