Blank Canvas Settlement Pinot Noir 2019

New single vineyard Marlborough Pinot Noir from the Settlement vineyard, based in the Omaka valley of the Southern Valleys.

Reviews

Blank Canvas Settlement Pinot Noir 2019:

Cameron Douglas MS: 96/100 (Outstanding). A powerful and distinctive bouquet with a core complexity built around ripe red berry fruit, a natural savoury dried herb complexity, a gentle sweetness of oak and baking spice scents to match, there's density and richness alongside power and finesse. A powerful youthful energy as the wine touches the palate transitioning smoothly through berry flavours, the savoury seam and textures from tannins and acidity. Delicious, youthful and full of pinosity. A lovely expression, complex and lengthy. Best drinking from 2022 through 2030+.

Bob Campbell, MW: 95/100. Intense, powerful, firmly-structured pinot noir from the Omaka Valley in the Southern Valleys subregion. The 50% whole-bunches in the ferment has contributed to the wine's tannic backbone, which is balanced by sweet fruit. Floral, dark cherry and dried herb flavours. A richly textured wine with obvious cellaring potential.

VINOUS - Rebecca Gibb MW: 93/100. The 2019 Pinot Noir Settlement Vineyard is full of vigor, conveying a real sense of urgency from the start to the long-drawn-out finish. While supple and smooth in the mouth, it punches home with mouthcoating, firm tannins and a flourish of acidity that ties the wine together and provides long length. The wine's red-fruit aromatics meet herbals of whole­ bunch fermentation as well as notes of fruit cake and spice of French oak (35% new, low toast). 2023-2033.

Michael Cooper: 5 stars. The finely perfumed 2019 vintage (5*) was harvested from clone 777 vines planted in the early 2000s in the Omaka Valley. Deep, bright ruby, it is mouthfilling, vibrantly fruity and supple, with deep cherry, plum and spice flavours, complex and beautifully harmonious. A refined wine, full of youthful drive, it's well worth cellaring to 2024+.

Tasting Note

This debut release of the Settlement Vineyard Pinot Noir shows great density and power. Ripe blue and red fruits transition seamlessly to an attractive savoury edge of forest floor and sappy aromatic spices. It is an incredibly structured and impressive wine and is built to age.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: Red wine

Grape varial: Pinot Noir

Alcohol: 13.5% vol

Food match: This wine is versatile with food and will pair well with savoury lamb, venison and game dishes, as well as fish dishes such as grilled salmon or tuna. A quintessential match for a vegetarian option is grilled field mushrooms.

Vineyard: Settlement, Omaka Valley, Southern Valleys, Marlborough, New Zealand. The vineyard was established in the early 2000s. Soils are low-vigour clay with vines close planted (3788 plants / ha). The Pinot Noir has density and structure due to the small berries and thick skins (100% clone 777). The grapes are taken from a small 1 ha north-facing slope. Omaka is one of the warmest subregions in Marlborough and as a result produces some of the most thickest skin Pinot Noir which results in an abundance of natural fruit tannin.

Soil: The soil profile on the hillside consists of a layer of shallow topsoil from tight packed wind-blown loess, over low vigour clay loams.

Winemaking: The grapes were hand-harvested and 50% of the fruit was tipped into an open-tank fermenter with the balance crushed over the top. The fruit was kept cool until natural fermentation commenced after five days. The tank was hand-plunged throughout its 15-day fermentation period after which the wine was drained and pressed to 100% French oak barriques (35% new, low-toast) for natural malocatic fermentation. After 12 months in oak, the wine spent a further three months in tank to gently and naturally settle.Bottled without filtration on the 3rd June 2020. The wines wa sreleased on the 1st November 2021.

Residual sugar: 0 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulfites

Cellaring potential: 2026+

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: Kiwi-Oeno Limited, t/a Blank Canvas Wines, 2A Opawa Street, Blenheim 7201,Marlborough, New Zealand

Imported and distributed by: vinabonus GmbH, Simmedenweg 40, 34134 Kassel, Germany

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