Te Mata Alma Pinot Noir 2021

Reviews

Huon Hooke (The Real Review): 96/100. Brilliant and deep purple colour; remarkable for pinot noir, then an explosive bouquet of black cherry and dark plum, loaded with spices too numerous to list. Oak (30% new) is perfectly harmonised. There is no whole- bunch character-less than 3% of stems were included-so the wine has amazing fruit purity. It’s very intense and vivacious in the mouth, with tight, firm but measured tannins and prodigious length. This will richly reward a little cellar time.

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit: 96/100. Pristine fruit notes of dark plum and sweet cherry lead the way with notes of floral, thyme, nutmeg, and mushroom, it’s finely flowing in the mouth delivering plump mouthfeel backed by refreshing acidity and polished tannins. Exquisite and elegant, yet with power and opulence, this should evolve magnificently.

Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 94+/100. The 2021 Alma Pinot Noir leads with an aromatic splay of coffee grounds, black cherries, red apple skins and licorice. It’s incredibly aromatic in fact. You get wild strawberries, salted pomegranate, bramble, bay leaf, brine, a hint of trufle umami, wild lavender and spring florals. In the mouth, a skein of very finely textured mineral tannin shapes the fruit, and there are inflections of Korean mint and thyme. I expect this will unfurl over the next day or so. A beauty.

Tasting Note:

A captivating rose-red and crimson in the glass, Alma ’21 is immediately floral, with notes of lavender, wild strawberries, and dark cherries and plums. Woodsmoke, spice and incense meld into forest berries and rich black plums on a long, savoury palate hanging on precise, concentrated, super-fine tannins. A wine of persistence, that overflows with appeal, Alma Pinot Noir ’21 is immediately enjoyable and endless in its enchantment.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: Red wine from New Zealand

Varietals: 100% Pinot Noir

Winemaking: The individual lots were each destemmed and given a traditional warm-plunged fermentation. The resulting wines underwent extended maceration on skins before pressing. The separate wines were then run to a mixture of new and seasoned French oak barriques for 10 months’ maturation.

The name: Alma celebrates Dr James Thomson, a hero of the 1854 Battle of the Alma during the Crimean War and forefather to Te Mata Estate’s Buck family. Knowing the vanquished enemy soldiers had already contracted cholera, Dr Thomson volunteered to tend to their wounds, saving the lives of over four hundred, and sacrificing his own in the process. The medal he was awarded for this selfless act of valour appears on the label of Alma Pinot Noir.

Alcohol: 13.5% vol

Wine style: dry

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: Contains sulphites, egg white.

Cellaring potential: 2031

Closure: Cork

Produced and bottled by: Te Mata Estate, PO Box 8335, Havelock North, Hawkes Bay 4157, New Zealand

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