Rapaura Springs Reserve Marlborough Pinot Noir 2019

Description

• French oak
• Dark cherry & plum
• Subtle savoury notes
• Velvety tannins

"It's gorgeously ripe and perfumed on the nose showing dark cherry, toasted nut, clove and dark mushroom characters, followed by a beautifully supple palate that's succulent and smooth. The wine offers terrific fruit purity with elegant complexity, finishing long and flavoursome. At its best: now to 2023" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Aug 2020

"Fragrant, aromatic pinot noir with plum, dark cherry, subtle violet and floral, fresh herb and peppery-stemmy flavours. Best with food. A full-flavoured wine with a suede-like texture" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Nov 2020

Aromatic and rich with dark cherry and plum, complemented with subtle savoury characters. The palate is full of juicy berry fruit flavours with velvet tannins.

The 2019 growing season started well in Marlborough with good soil moisture and warm, even springtime temperatures. Soil temperatures were cooler as a result of rainfall, before extended hot and dry weather over Summer resulted in advanced ripening, with low disease pressure and outstanding fruit quality.

Fruit for the Reserve Marlborough Pinot Noir is grown in the Southern Valley, Kaituna and Ward sub-regions, each site offering unique fruit flavour. After harvest, the Pinot Noir was cold soaked for five days and fermented in small batches in open-top fermenters. Each ferment was plunged three times a day to extract colour and tannins from the skins. The wine was left to macerate for five days before a gentle pressing off the skins. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation to soften the palate and was then aged in French oak barriques for 10 months, including 20% new oak.