Te Mata Estate Alma Hawke's Bay Pinot Noir 2022

Description

Oak, Redcurrant, Wood

"Alluring and enticing, the wine shows sweet berry, olive, thyme and toasted almond characters, beautifully accented by floral overtones. It’s juicy and finely flowing in the mouth offering elegant texture and layers of delicate tannins, making it refined and sumptuous at the same time. Wonderfully composed and poised with a prolonged velvety finish. At its best: 2025 to 2037" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Jan 2024

"Good depth of bright red-purple colour, pristine aromas of sweetly ripe black cherry with a kiss of spicy oak, fresh and bright primary fruit leads the way, the palate intense and medium-full for pinot noir, backed with surprising tannins that give a solid backbone and cleansing after-grip. A serious pinot noir that will reward cellaring for several years" Huon Hooke, Jan 2024

"The 2022 Alma Pinot Noir is supple and ripe, with an infusion of silty tannins and black tea. This is a gorgeous wine, totally svelte and structural at once, populated by a saturation of red fruits. There are pomegranate pearls, pink peppercorns, poached strawberry and even a hint of sumac. This is delicious. Gorgeous wine … delicious" Erin Larkin, Sep 2023

Dark garnet with a purple edge, Alma Pinot Noir ’22 is a fine wine of both dimension and texture. Intense floral and spice aromas of carnations, peonies and lavender laced with cardamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sandalwood. Bright redcurrant and cherries give lovely red fruit appeal and great freshness to this complex, layered wine. Fine-grained silky tannins run throughout the palate, giving structure and finesse. Alma Pinot Noir ’22 is closed with a ‘Diam’ cork, which eliminates any possibility of cork taint, allowing continued evolution in bottle for 10 years from harvest.

Separate parcels of fully ripened pinot noir grapes were hand-harvested from Te Mata Estate’s Woodthorpe Vineyards between 22 and 24 February 2022.

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.

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.