RIPPON MATURE VINE PINOT NOIR 2018

Winery notes (2018 Vintage)
"The farm voice of a distinct parcel of land: Rippon. On the western board of Roy’s Bay, Lake Wanaka, Rippon’s north-facing escarpment forms the meeting point of terminal moraines and coarse gravels, all based in schist, on which some of the region’s earliest vines were planted. Rippon is a Wine issued from all of the fully developed Pinot Noir vines growing in this land."

94+/100 Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, November 2021 (2018 Vintage)
"Bold and beautiful pinot noir. A lot of swagger, inky black cherry fruit set on a tense web of tannins. Scents and flavours of ripe red berries, truffle, turned earth though all that with precise tannins and fresh acidity underlying. While lots of flavour and perfume present the wine finds power but a palate cleansing vibrancy that follows. Serious red, and serious cellaring time should suit."

Reviews for previous vintages below…

99/100 James Suckling, November 2020 (2017 Vintage)
"This offers aromas of violets, blueberries, red and dark cherries, fragrant, freshly cracked black pepper and wet dark stones. Complex, but still tightly wound and reserved. The palate is very concentrated, dense and elegantly poised with such powerful tannin, carrying concentrated blueberry and dark-cherry flavours long. Really taut, fully ripe and mouthwateringly intense Pinot Noir. Dark cherry-pit freshness to close. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but better in five years."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2017 Vintage)
"This Lake Wanaka red has a long, proud history. Estate-grown but not a single-block wine – winemaker Nick Mills views it as 'the farm voice' – it is typically a very elegant, 'feminine' style, rather than a blockbuster. The 2017 vintage was hand-harvested, fermented with indigenous yeasts, matured over two winters in French oak barrels (25 per cent new), and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Deeply coloured, it is sweet-fruited, savoury and supple, with rich, vibrant cherry, plum and spice flavours, seasoned with nutty oak, fresh acidity, and excellent complexity and harmony. Best drinking 2022+."

95/100 Cameron Douglas MS, April 2019 (2016 Vintage)
"Extremely youthful bouquet of Pinot Noir with aromas and scents of spice and earth, red fruits and crushed flowers, tea and old rose. Equally youthful on the palate with a vibrant and energy filled flavour profile – crushed rocks, dark red berry fruits, oak spice and whispers of smoke, organic and adventurous. Dry and lengthy, savoury, dried herb offset with a core of red berry fruit flavours. Youthful textures from tannins and acidity. A delicious wine but also a very young wine. Decant for service if opened before 2021. Best drinking 2022 through 2032."

18/20 Julia Harding, JancisRobinson.com (2016 Vintage)
"Bright cherry red. Delicate rocky/mineral aroma and plenty of dusty dark-red fruit. Wild herbs but not thyme. So fragrant. On the palate, that rocky dark-red fruit perfectly mirrored. Very fine texture. Coming back to taste this again after the two single-block 2014s, this seems a little more delicate. The tannins finer and more supple. Very elegant and refined. Tinker’s Block has more mass but this has more elegance. Under Diam – only their Osteiner is sealed under screwcap. This wine gives ‘the most complete picture of the farm’. Mature vines from each block. Blocks fermented separately and first winter in barrel. 25–40% whole bunch."