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No wonder Escarpment are considered one of the finest Pinot Noir Producers in all New Zealand - This is a concentrated and muscular Pinot Noir from their top end range. There is certainly nothing shy here as it bursts through the door with power and charm.
We describe this wine as a warming embrace on a cool night. That hug from an old friend you haven't seen for a while. We hope you put aside enough time to talk and enjoy each others company - Just like your friend, this wine needs time to shine.
Near perfect growing conditions led to exceptional fruit that was handled with great care to help retain balance and elegance. 100% Abel clone picked over two days; the fruit was fermented in open top fermenters using indigenous yeast. They were hand plunged once daily for a total vat time of 31 days. After pressing, the wine was aged in 42% new French oak barriques for19 months, creating a wine with ripe flavours and full tannin. Bottled without fining or filtration, promoting soft mouth feel and balance, and every priority afforded during its elevation, showing all the hallmarks of a grand young Pinot Noir on release, July 2023.
It is packed with black fruit, dark cherries and freeze-dried raspberries. Fine spices and dried herbs are scattered around a persistent finish but that fog of oak just won't lift. I had this in the glass for half an hour (constantly swirling) and it didn't move much, so we suggest decanting for at least 2 hours before service (if you're drinking this before 2029) .
Dark coffee, mocha, spicy plum, with elegant notes of ripe cherries and blackberries. Toasty oak imparts richness, but the fruit keeps is fresh and alive.
Crimson red with a deep dark core. Lifted and fragrant, offering all the grace and poise Pinot can give, with an alluring charm. This is a wine that is both subtle and beguiling, yet bold and brooding. It is lifted and fragrant with perfume and spice, along with cascading red and black fruits that offer an array of flavours and complexity. Always evolving in the glass, it has a coreof dark fruit with dried porcini mushrooms and cured meat that work inharmony with the floral notes and savoury accents. It is the classic iron fist in a velvet glove. A firm tannin profile rounds out the opulent fruit profile to combine excellent texture and reward patience for cellaring up to 20 years.
Match with rich red meats, duck or traditional Christmas lunch with the trimmings. Serve at 16°C & decant for at least 3 hours
97/100 Bob Campbell
2024 - 2035
