FROMM CUVÉE “H” PINOT NOIR 2018

A label with only a short history but from a winery and winemaker with a long and illustrious history (in New Zealand terms anyway). Named after winemaker Hätsch Kalberer, this wine reflects his 25 years of knowledge and understanding of several great Marlborough terroirs. A thoughtful composite of Fromm's five individual single vineyard wines, Cuvée "H" expresses a winery signature and represents "the best Pinot we feel we can make."

Winery notes (2018 Vintage)
"Our Fromm Pinot Noir Cuvée “H” is a thoughtful blend of our individual single vineyard Pinots. Incorporating the qualities of each of these wines into a premium blend (Cuvée) gives us a Pinot that is balanced yet complex; powerful yet elegant.

This year, more than ever, careful blending and sacrificing high portions of our best single vineyard wines was crucial to achieving a wine worthy of this label’s expectations while maintaining the integrity of the vintage. The wine has beautiful transparency, freshness and floral aromas with complex yet delicate forest floor notes. The palate is sleek and refined, an exercise in lace and grace, supported by very fine tannins. A seductive, multi-layered wine of finesse and gentle strength, arguably Fromm’s star of the vintage."

5 Stars & 95/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, March 2020 (2018 Vintage)
"Offering wonderful fruit purity and elegant complexity, the wine shows dark cherry, raspberry, floral, thyme and anise notes on the nose. The palate is concentrated and textural with flowing mouthfeel and fine-grained tannins, making the wine refined and beautifully structured. It's youthfully charming and splendidly balanced with outstanding harmony and length. At its best: 2021 to 2028."

5  Stars & 95/100 Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review, May 2020 (2018 Vintage)
"A blend of Fromm’s single vineyard wines that is right up to their very high standards. A solid core of ripe cherry and berry, with a seasoning of savoury, dried herb, spice and nutty oak characters. Savour it now or enjoy it in a few years."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2018 Vintage)
"Certified organic, the 2018 vintage is labelled in honour of Hätsch Kalberer, Fromm's winemaker since the first vintage in 1992. Designed as 'a mindful blend of what our single-vineyard wines offer as a composite', it is a fragrant, powerful, very age-worthy red, blended from five separately made, single-vineyard wines, matured for 16 to 18 months in French oak casks (less than 10 per cent new). Deep ruby, it is sweet-fruited and savoury, with concentrated, youthful, well-ripened cherry, plum and spice flavours, well-integrated oak, excellent complexity, and a finely structured, very harmonious, lasting finish. Best drinking 2023+."

95/100 James Suckling (2018 Vintage)
"This has a rich array of red cherries and blueberries with a sappy and herbal edge. The palate rolls out attractively mouth-filling, fleshy pinot fruit and carries a long, plush and building wave of tannin. Dark-cherry finish. Drink or hold."