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Tasting notes
A fine, fragrant and elegant style that accumulates structure over the course of its journey. While gentle and welcoming at first, with sweet blackberry and black cherry fruit, there's a firm line that pulls this through. There's no doubting this is a structured wine, which is likely a combination of both acidity and a fairly hefty 50% whole-bunch component, providing a fine fur to the tannins. The 40% oak is well integrated, adding a subtle cedar note on the medium-length finish, which offers dried herbs, red cherry and dried cranberry flavors.
Critic scores
Average Score
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate
Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Kiwa Pinot Noir is a blend of Pommard clones originally sourced via University of California, Davis. Like other recent vintages, there's a notable whole-bunch component, which comes through on the nose when the wines are young. Beyond that, there's some black cherries and a stolid earthy character, ample weight and concentration and a long, dusty-tannic finish. This should easily age up to a decade, even if it lacks the flair of its single-vineyard stablemates.
About the producer
Based in Martinborough, Escarpment is one of New Zealand’s leading producers of Pinot Noir. The estate’s top cuvée Kupe is widely regarded as a benchmark example of the region’s potential for producing world-class Pinot Noir.