Margrain Home Block Martinborough Pinot Noir 2021

Margrain Home Block Martinborough Pinot Noir 2021"Vibrant, bright pinot noir with cherry, plum, raspberry, fresh herb and spicy oak flavours supported by fine, drying tannins and tangy acidity. Silken textured wine with cellaring potential" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Jun 2023 The 2021 vintage will long be etched in our memories as a year when we could not help but make good wine. The season was long, warm and dry with the dubious bonus of a low crop, the result of several cold

"Vibrant, bright pinot noir with cherry, plum, raspberry, fresh herb and spicy oak flavours supported by fine, drying tannins and tangy acidity. Silken-textured wine with cellaring potential" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Jun 2023

The 2021 vintage will long be etched in our memories as a year when we could not help but make good wine. The season was long, warm and dry with the dubious bonus of a low crop, the result of several cold Southerly outbreaks during the flowering period in November. Though this was flagged as the start of a 3 year La Nina cycle, we would not come to know the punishing reality of that until the following season.

In a segway to what will follow, the penetratingly deep dark garnet colour glows with pride like the ring on the middle finger of your first serious girlfriend. Aromas of rich dark-fleshed plum, sticky dried prune and plump blackcurrant bolt from the glass and envelope the senses like an excited puppy tugging on its leash. Husky, musky notes of impenetrable brambles growing in a deep ravine are followed by boiled gumdrops, 72% cocoa chocolate, black tea leaf, shaved cedar and steaming sweet brioche. Finally, black pepper, warm polished leather and the slightly unnerving waft of frankincense drifting through a darkened nave, leave the imagination swirling and invoke visions of the mythical purple rain.

The palate is no pushover either. Loud, proud and just a little precocious, it is a curious mix of rich, jammy blackberry and plum flavours balanced by the almost herculean structure which is thick and tarry with an abrasive element like red fire bricks. Yet the tannins are never aggressive and as the wines works its way toward the back of the palate it shows a seductive flintiness and finally settles carborundum smooth. Black salty liquorice, creamy rhubarb tart and the savoury scrapings from the roasting dish form a solid and powerful wave which washes across the tongue. The acidity is soft yet searching as it combines with the tin-tack and ball bearing texture to perk up the back palate and fill the senses up to the gunwales. There is a kind of euphoria in the finish, like swimming in a sea of quicksand, as the wine locks up the tastebuds and throws away the key.