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2016 A1 Pinot Noir
6 x 750ml case
Moderately intense ruby colour with a garnet hue.
Spiced cherry primary fruit and dusty dried herb aromas build gently on the nose. The subtle aromatics in time give way to dark plum fruit characters with a background of brown spices and leafy complexity. Considerable depth and dimension is revealed that belies the intensity of bouquet. Brooding aromatics driven by a precise fruit focus.
The dark juicy plum drives a generous entry to the palate and that spiced cherry adds great focus and length of flavour. Cinnamon and subtle anise characters are woven into the tactile structure of the wine. The tannin backbone compliments juicy acidity giving a velvety yet lively texture and a mouthwatering finish. Tension with restraint.
This wine is a sleeper and those who can keep their hands off it in the short term should be well rewarded after 4 or so years in the Cellar - but full maturity in 6 to 10 years may just deliver greatness.
Food – Al Brown’s Slow Cooked Spiced Brisket, from his book “Stoked”, pp.198.
Cropped at 4.5 tonnes/ha with careful clonal selection in order to promote the elegance of the wine, this has a relatively pale colour for Central Otago, but it is still more violet than ruby. The nose is extremely pure in cherry fruit that has an almost saline quality. With a little air, pepper, exotic spices cme through, The palate is plump and round with fruit, ripe cherries and wild strawberries at the core. There is good acid cut that gives real freshness, whilst retaining the ripe, hedonistic profile. This juicy and pure wine gains weight and complexity in toasted spices through to a long and pure finish.
Powerful but very fresh with lovely vivid, bright black cherry fruit and good structure. There’s great precision and purity here: a really serious effort.
Extraordinarily, they have waited over a decade for their vines to settle and to start to present their wonderful true character.
Soft core of ripe light red fruits led by sweet cherry, plum and raspberry suggestions, a an additional core component of mineral with quartz-like features, moderate oak and quite complex. On the palate - youthful texture with medium+ acidity, fine tannins and youthful sulphide action, flavours of red berry fruits and oak spice layers add to a lengthy finish.
Subtle cherry notes on the nose. The palate is a lovely expression of unforced balance, an interplay between aromatic, ripe fruit and bracing freshness with a lovely savoury glint. Nothing is overdone here: just 25% of the oak was new, while 40% whole-bunch gives backbone and structure alongside the freshness. Drink 2020-2035
2016 Akitu A1 Pinot Noir - Blending
Clones: 68% Abel, 16% UCD 5, 16% Dijon 777
Treatment: 40% whole bunch, balance whole berry, 25% new French oak
Volume: 6,610 litres - 730 12b cases
Technical: Alcohol 14.6%, TA 5.3g/l, pH 3.62
Harvest Dates: 22nd, 26th, 28th & 29th April 2016
Bottling Date: 28th March 2017