Pinot Noir,

The Pinot Noir has an enticingly light and pretty bouquet, offering notes of cranberries and crushed redcurrants with a certain snap and happy strawberry-rose. Traditionally, Marlborough Pinot has been planted on gravelly terraces but you end up with pale and insipid reds. These vines come from higher in the valley on fully north facing (warm) hillside sites and clay soils. Allied to this is better clonal from Burgundy, which brings more flesh and spice and mid palate, which is evident as the wine unfurls. There are hibiscus notes with a certain savouriness too. Majority destemmed, the Pinot is aged in French barrique, 13-15% new for a year and then 5 months in tank.