TE KANO LIFE SERIES PINOT NOIR 2021

Gold Medal – New Zealand Organic Wine Awards 2025
Gold Medal – New World Wine Awards 2024

Winery notes (2021 Vintage)
"The Life Series captures the essence of Te Kano’s Estate vineyards, using parcels of fruit from across our subregions to give a snapshot of the season and our unique expression of Central Otago.

A combination of our Central Otago subregions. Northburn shows fine boned acidity, pure fresh fruit flavours and a crystalline minerality derived from Schist based soils, while Bannockburn gives riper black fruit notes, structured tannins and mid palate weight.

A complex and elegant Pinot Noir with aromas of red cherry, tobacco and spice. Red and black cherry follow through the palate with spicy oak nuances and a distinctive dried herb bouquet.

Vineyard parcels were individually hand harvested and destemmed to open top fermenters. Gentle hand plunging over a period of 10 – 28 days aided the extraction of fine, delicate tannins, along with varying percentages of whole bunches in the fermentation lending sinewy tannin and excellent aging potential. The wine was matured in French oak barrels for 11 months with around 24% new oak used."

5 Stars & 96/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, May 2025 (2021 Vintage)
"The bouquet is immensely complex and enticing. It shows sweet berry, game, porcini, thyme, and toasted nut aromas. The palate exhibits fine focus and outstanding concentration, superbly enhanced by plush texture and beautifully melded tannins. Harmonious and multi-layered with a seamless flow, finishing seductive and gratifying. Certified organic. At its best: now to 2033."

Rated Excellent & 94/100 Cameron Douglas MS, June 2025 (2021 Vintage)
"Complex, youthful and taut wine with a fragrant core of wild flowers and savoury Otago hillside spices. Flavours of red and dark cherry, wild blackcurrant bush and boysemberry fruits. An abundance of tannins from fine through moderate, very polished adding texture and framing the fruits very nicely. Acidity sets the fruit flavours and earthy qualities in place. A lovely example, new fresh and posed for ageing. Best drinking from 2027 through 2036+."

5 Stars & 18.5+/20 (94) Candice Chow, Raymond Chan Reviews, May 2025 (2021 Vintage)
"Medium ruby-red, even colour throughout. It has an alluring bouquet with aromas of black cherry, blackberry, cinnamon, rose, mushroom and delicate spice. Medium-bodied, aromas of black cherry and blackberry are concentrated, entwined with delicate spices of cinnamon, nutmeg and white pepper, along with rose and forest floor complexity. The flavours are layered and lifted by lacy acidity; silky tannins accompany spices and broody nuances to a long, harmonious finish. This seductive Pinot Noir is well-balanced with broody, savoury elements and refreshing acidity that lifts the presence and brings a harmonious linger. Match with duck breast and lamb loin over the next 5-8 years. Fruit from Certified Organic Eliza vineyard, handpicked, destemmed to open-top fermenters with a percentage of whole bunch, aged in French oak barrels for 11 months, 24% new oak. 14% alc. 18.5+/20 pts (94 pts) May 2025"

5 Stars & 93/100 Sammy Wilkinson, The Wine Writer, May 2026 (2021 Vintage)
"Graceful and gently perfumed, with wild strawberry, cherry and delicate florals leading the nose. Savoury and floral rather than overtly fruit forward, with liquorice, forest floor, earth and autumn leaf complexity showing some bottle age. The palate is balanced and complete, carrying red fruit on a lovely, silky mouthfeel and dusty, lightly woody tannins, before a slight warmth emerges on the finish. Elegant, complex – and drinking beautifully."

93/100 James Suckling (2021 Vintage)
"Pure and focused aromas of strawberries, dark cherries, blood oranges and pencil shavings. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy tannins and bright acidity, showing flavors of wild raspberries, cedar and potpourri. Very precise and bright."