Steve Bennett | November 2021
Wine Rater By Steve Bennett and Lynette Hudson
November 2021
Steve Bennet and Lynette Hudson from Wine Rater New Zealand recently reviewed 120 New Zealand's signature red, Pinot Noir.
What a fantastic result for winegrowers in the Wairarapa! We were thrilled to see that 8 out of the top 10 Pinot Noirs were from the Wairarapa, three of which were our very own. For a region that produces only 2% of the country's wine, it's a fantastic achievement.
The Kupe 2019 Pinot Noir scored a brilliant 96 points, coming in second to Pegasus Bay Vergence Red MK1 - a worthy opposition.
Escarpment Kupe 2019 Pinot Noir
96 Points
"Wow, beautiful. An intense, powerful, luxurious wine on the nose with ripe, dark cherry fruit, haunting whole bunch/undergrowth herbal complexity and opulent creamy, vanilla oak all adding to the mix. A rich, powerfully structured, statement wine with a core of sappy, concentrated pinot-stem richness, and layers of flavour. The firm, chewy, mouth-coating tannings, and dark chocolate, toasty, vanilla oak characters will need time to soften, and integrate but this wine seems to have it all."
Escarpment Te Rehua 2019 Pinot Noir
94 Points
"Boasting a very intense, funky, complex, sulphide-influenced nose with lifted, wild berry, coffee bean and smoky fire ember aromas. A potent, structured wine with rich, powerful mouth-filling tannins. It's clearly very youthful and needs time in the bottle but the level of concentration and the way the wine opens up in the glass suggests it's all there for the long haul."
Escarpment Martinborough Pinot Noir 2019
95 Points
"Boasting a powerful, heady bouquet with cassis, crushed black-cherry skins, baking spices along with a strong, wild, herbal note, and mil chocolate oat characters. Full-bodied, tasty, powerfully-structure wine with rich, mouth-fulling tannin but plenty of fruit weight, savoury complexity and a long finish. A classically structured wine that should deliver much drinking pleasure for years to come."
Read the full article here
