RAPAURA SPRINGS ROHE AWATERE VALLEY PINOT NOIR 2018

Winery notes (2018 Vintage)
"This elegant Pinot Noir has lifted floral aromatics, with layers of red cherry, plum and bright raspberry. The pure fruit flavours are balanced with a subtle toasty oak influence, fine tannins, texture and acidity. The wine finishes elegant and long.

The soils in the Awatere are complex, encompassing a matrix of shallow to moderately deep silty loams, with pockets of sand, gravel, and clay on higher terraces. The sub-region is drier and cooler with plenty of low vigour sites, well suited to Pinot Noir."

Rated Excellent & 93/100 Cameron Douglas MS, August 2020 (2018 Vintage)
"The red hues of this wine are perhaps a little light than you might expect for a Pinot Noir, but don’t let the colour be the guide – let the bouquet and palate do that for you….. aromas of sweet red apple and cherry, roses, ripe cranberry and red plum. There’s a fine layer of oak that underpins these aromas with a baking spice and soft toasty quality. On the palate – fine, delicate, balanced and deceptively complex with fruit and would flavours that reflect the nose then fine textures from tannins and acidity. A lighter weighted wine, a complete wine. Best enjoyed from later in 2021 through 2025+."

5 Stars & 94/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, August 2021 (2018 Vintage)
"It's spicy and savoury with sweet fruit notes, showing dried cherry, smoky bacon, forest floor and roasted nut characters. The palate offers expansive mouthfeel and soothing texture with seductive complexity, finishing long and velvety. At its best: now to 2026."

4 Stars Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review, February 2021 (2018 Vintage)
"The Rapaura Springs Rohe Awatere Valley Pinot Noir 2018 is an elegant, supple pinot noir with cherry and berry, floral, savoury and herbal flavours that point to a cool-climate origin. An appealingly smooth-textured wine in a light to medium-bodied style, with impressive underlying power."