Rippon "Emma's Block" Mature Vine Pinot Noir 2020

Reviews

James Suckling (JamesSuckling.com): 98/100 & #15 Top 100 Wines of New Zealand 2023. This is so opened and perfumed with sliced strawberry, orange and fresh mushroom. Full, velvety and caressing texture and finish. Articulate. Seductive. Drink or hold.

Stephen Wong MW (The Real Review): 97/100. Emma’s Block and 2020 make for a great combination. One of the more ethereal and refined vintages of this wine I have seen, it is also the most effortless and energetic pinot that Nick Mills crafted in 2020. Don’t miss it: it’s one of the greats, worth seeking out. Soft ruby colour. A soaring nose of layered, delicate red berries, rosehip, honey and sweet herbs. At once expressive and ethereal. The palate is bright and flowing with a lightness and airiness which belies the concentration of fruit. Persistent yet restrained with intricate sweetness and very fine, almost imperceptible tannins, this is a long, perfumed wine on a light-weight frame which spans the gamut from flowers and honey to wet earth and mushroom. Already accessible now, with hints of more hidden within, suggesting that the best is yet to come with some time in the cellar. My prediction is that this will provide enjoyment at every stage of its development, exemplifying the complex, ethereal elegance that pinot noir can achieve.

VINOUS - Rebecca Gibb MW: 95/100. In 2020, the mature Pinot Noir vines planted on Emma's Block have resulted in a mellifluous wine. This wine has a sense of calm and harmony that is oh-so-satisfying. It is brooding with savory characters meeting plum and woody herb flavors. There's a high level of concentration. Its richness and curvy figure may be due to a clay component in this block. The tannins are delectable, like fine melted chocolate.

Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 95+/100. The 2020 Emma's Block Mature Vine Pinot Noir leads with dehydrated cranberry, cherry blossom, graphite and dried star anise. The nose is exotic and restrained at once. This is the entree to the palate which is dened absolutely by the tannins that feel very much like they plume in the wine, like a drop of blood in water. These are wines to feel as much as they are to taste, and this is what helps them stand alone in this place. It’s superb, with unbroken form through the long finish—no strays, no rough edges, no breaks. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under Diam. The vines are east facing and close to the lake, with less afternoon sun (which means it isn't exposed to the extended heat of the afternoon). "There is clay down there which gives the tannins more mobility and animation," says Nick Mills. Drink Date: 2023 - 2035.

Tasting note

Complex aromas of cranberries, ripe strawberries, star anise and hints of mushrooms. Full-bodied with chewy tannins and a long, flavorful finish. This is full and structured, with velvet tannins.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: red wine

Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir

Food match: Match with lamb dishes and Mediterranean cuisine.

Winemaking: Picked by hand into small, 10kg cases allowing the fruit to arrive at the winery’s sorting table undamaged and intact. Picked and fermented separately in 3, 2-tonne stainless-steel fermenters. 19% whole cluster. Each parcel is fermented and matured apart before blending. The winery’s resident yeast population (non-inoculated) took 10 days to ferment; and spanned temperatures between 11-28° Celsius. Total time of skin contact: 21 and 28 days. 12 months of new (23%) to 4 year old French oak barrels. The malolactic fermentation went through unaided (non-inoculated) in springtime; it was then racked back into barrel and allowed a second winter in neutral barrels before being run directly into bottle without filtering or fining. Total time in barrel: 18 months.

Cases produced: 210

Cellaring potential: 2032+

Decanting: Recommended

Alcohol: 13.5% vol

Residual sugar: <2 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulfite

Produced and bottled with loving care by: Rippon Vineyard and Winery Ltd., 246 Wanaka-Mount Aspiring Road, Wanaka 9381, New Zealand

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

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