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Buy OnlineWinery notes (2020 Vintage)
"Our Marlborough Reserve Pinot Noir 2020 showcases bright floral aromas as well as fresh cherries. On the palate is an inviting mixture of dark chocolate and juicy summer berries with hints of freshly crushed thyme. This complex wine shows both purity and richness with soft velvety tannins and toasty oak influence which completes the wine."
5 Stars & 96/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, December 2021 (2020 Vintage)
"This is gorgeously ripe and impressively complex on the nose showing ripe cherry, warm mushroom, toasted spice, hazelnut and game nuances, leading to a silky-smooth palate that's succulent and wonderfully flavoursome. It's plush and velvety with layers of delicious flavours. At its best: now to 2030."
5 Stars Michael Cooper (2020 Vintage)
"Already lovely, but worth cellaring, the 2020 vintage was grown in the Southern Valleys (72 per cent) and Awatere Valley (28 per cent). Hand-harvested and matured for 14 months in French oak barriques (22 per cent new), it is deep ruby, with a fragrant bouquet, revealing excellent complexity. Mouthfilling, it is richly varietal, with concentrated cherry, plum, spice and nutty oak flavours, and a delicious, silky texture. Best drinking 2023+."
Reviews for previous vintages below…
Rated Excellent, 5 Stars & 93/100 NZ Wine Rater, September 2021 (2019 Vintage)
"Quite closed, and brooding on the nose initially then opening to aromas of blackberries, mulberries, plum, sandalwood, and dark chocolate, oak characters. Full-bodied, riper style with both dark berry and forest floor flavours, notable acidity at this stage but smooth tannins accentuated by a spicy, herbal, vein throughout."
4 ½ Stars Yvonne Lorkin, December 2020 (2019 Vintage)
"The excellent thing about Villa Maria having multiple sites in Marlborough from which to source pinot noir from, is that when it comes to crafting the ‘Reserve’, those soils really are their oyster. The best rows from the best blocks are chosen and made as individual wines then a massive, marathon, blending session occurs where the winemaking team decide the exact formula for that years reserve offering. This 2019 vintage has life, vitality, verve and spicy electricity on the palate. Boasting clove, cherry, sandalwood, cinnamon and ripe rhubarb on the nose and palate, it’s a deeply satisfying and dangerously drinkable style that’ll wow those dinner party doom-and-gloomers for sure. Delicious!"
92/100 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (2019 Vintage)
"A fine effort, the 2019 Reserve Pinot Noir combines mixed black and red cherries with subtle cedar, vanilla and spice shadings. It's medium-bodied, supple and smooth in texture, with a mouthwatering finish. It's not a big, burly offering, as this wine was sometimes in the past, but a pleasantly elegant bottling to drink over the next 5-8 years."
93/100 Cameron Douglas MS, April 2020 (2018 Vintage)
"Varietal and complex with aromas of smoky oak, raspberry and dark cherry, vanilla and clove wood aromas and dark roses with a stony dried herb suggestion. On the palate – dry, firm, youthful and poised. Flavours reflect the nose with cherry and dark berries dominating. Tannins are quite chalky in texture with a light dusty edge and accentuated by the oak flavours and minerality. Acidity adds a youthful bite contrasted by the core of fruit. Balanced and well made, nicely complex and with a lengthy finish. Best drinking from today and through 2024."
