te Pa Pinot Noir 2023

Reviews

Marlborough Wine Show 2024: Gold & Trophy, Champion Pinot Noir.

Tasting Note

The 2023 te Pa Pinot Noir is intensely perfumed with dark brooding fruit and layers of spice. It possesses complex aromatics with soft red and black fruits, savoury earthy notes, perfumed florals, and subtle smoky oak spice. The palate is complex yet balanced, with dark plum and fleshy red fruit flavours balanced by a vein of Christmas cake spice, and youthful acidity. Oak derived smoke and cedar notes are beautifully integrated with the fruit derived cinnamon and liquorice. This wine will age gracefully for years to come.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: red wine

Grape varial: 100% Pinot Noir

Food match: Lamb, venison, beef, pork, nutty cheeses, mushroom dishes

Wine region: Marlborough, New Zealand.

Vineyards: 75% Westhaven, Awatere Valley 25% Raupo, Omaka Valley. The Westhaven Vineyard is now 20 years old and is located on the northern side of the same hill as our Redwood Hills property. With clay rich soils, this cooler site boasts a sunny aspect and a long ripening period, which assists with the development of fruit spice and other secondary Pinot Noir characters. The vineyard is planted in four clones – 667, 777, 115, and 114 and consistently produces high quality fruit. Clones 667 and 777 were chosen for this blend. The Raupo Vineyard is of a similar age to the Westhaven site. Located in the Omaka Valley it is a warmer site with clay rich soils producing wines with good tannin structure and density. Planted in a range of clones, it was the 777 clone that made this cuvee. Both vineyards share the similarities of being planted in clay rich soils on north facing slopes.

Vintage: It was another wet start to the season thanks to the La Nina weather pattern with January and February seeing numerous rain events. The growing season was warm, although down on sunshine hours. Fortunately, the weather gods decided to favour Marlborough this year. The forecast rains in March and April never really arrived and the nights stayed cool. The grapes ripened slowly to get to target brix whilst retaining their all-important acidity. The wines are ripe, very aromatic, and beautifully balanced.

Winemaking: The 2023 te Pa Pinot Noir was blended from three stand out batches. The Raupo 777 block was hand-picked on the 26th of March and was selected for its pure fruit expression (florals and blackberries), fine ripe tannins and silky, yet concentrated palate. The Westhaven batches were hand-picked on the 8th and 9th of April and contributed a rich, dense, and softly structured palate with dark spicy fruit characters. Both batches were fermented in open top fermenters with whole bunches ranging from 10% to 30%. These whole bunch components express perfumed floral aromatics, succulent red fruits, and lingering spice flavours. The individual batches were all cold soaked for 5-7 days and left on skins for a further 7- 15 days post-fermentation to build structure and harmonise the tannins. The wine was matured in French oak barrels for 11 months – 30% of which were new.

Alcohol: 14% vol

Residual sugar: <1 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Cellaring potential: 2028+

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: te Pa Family Vineyards Ltd, 515 Wairau Bar Road, R.D.3, Blenheim Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand

Distributor: vinabonus GmbH, Simmedenweg 40, 34134 Kassel, Germany

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