Butterworth Te Muna Martinborough Pinot Noir 2019

Butterworth Te Muna Martinborough Pinot Noir 2019"Gorgeously maturing, the wine shows dark berry, dried herb, smoked game, toasted nut and warm mushroom aromas on the nose. The palate displays juicy fruit intensity with savoury nuances, wonderfully framed by loads of polished tannins, finishing persistent and sturdy. At its best: now to 2027" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Aug 2024 "A ruby core through to the rim with a hint of garnet fade leads to a bouquet that can be nothing but Wairarapa scents.

"Gorgeously maturing, the wine shows dark berry, dried herb, smoked game, toasted nut and warm mushroom aromas on the nose. The palate displays juicy fruit intensity with savoury nuances, wonderfully framed by loads of polished tannins, finishing persistent and sturdy. At its best: now to 2027" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Aug 2024

"A ruby core through to the rim with a hint of garnet fade leads to a bouquet that can be nothing but Wairarapa scents. Strawberry and plum, cherry and a clay-savoury quality. Very enticing with complexity and power. Aromas and flavours of barrel smoke and spices, cedar and vanilla, earth smoke and a mix of fresh and drying berries. Fine to moderate tannins with polish, along with the acidity deliver poise and impact. Well made with a lovely mouthfeel and complexity, and a dry lengthy finish. Best drinking from day of purchase through 2029" Cameron Douglas MS, Aug 2024

Deep garnet, purple hue. Dark, ripe purple and red fruits, with currant and vanilla undertones. The tannins are slightly grippy, but fine boned. The steel bar of acidity pushes through the richness of the mannoproteins. The finish is long and persistent.

The soils of Te Muna Terraces are free-draining alluvial gravel, which are rich in minerals making it ideal for growing grapes. The climate is an extension of Martinborough and similar to Burgundy, being only slightly cooler due to higher altitude, but with long cool summers and low rainfall providing the optimum long ripening conditions for grapes.

An early season frost in November 2018, combined with a rainy flowering, resulted in an 86% loss of fruit across the Pinot Noir Blocks. What fruit remained had a full sail of canopy boosting energy into what fruit was left. This led to very early ripening.

Due to the ripeness of the fruit, the hand selected bunches were destemmed to fermenters and fermented cool with minimal intervention. Juice was manually extracted and poured over the skins to wet to avoid extraction, with 15-20 days on skins. After 11 months in oak, the wine was blended and egg fining to tame some bigger tannins before light filtration.