Pinot Noir, Rippon 'Mature Vine'

The farm voice of a distinct parcel of land: Rippon. On the western board of Roy’s Bay, Lake Wanaka, Rippon’s north-facing escarpment forms the meeting point of terminal moraines and coarse gravels, all based in schist, on which some of the region’s earliest vines were planted. Rippon is a Wine issued from all of the fully developed Pinot Noir vines growing in this land.

Grown from schist-based moraine and coarse gravel, the fruit for the Mature Vines Pinot Noir comes from small, meticulously managed parcels all over the estate. Picked by hand over a period of two or more weeks, fermented on indigenous yeast in more than a dozen 2-ton steel vats, with 10-24 days on the skins. Aged for a year in mostly used barrels [75%], then racked and aged for another eight months in entirely neutral barrels.

98 points, James Suckling ‘Dried strawberries, mushrooms, bark and flowers on the nose. It changes all the time! Full-bodied with intense yet refined tannins that drive the center palate to a long and almost endless finish. Great length. Drink or hold.’