Tasting notes: Riverby Estate Reserve Pinot Noir
Riverby Estate Reserve Pinot Noir. Ruby, carmine and velvet in colour. This wine has a luxuriously complex nose which displays an abundance of ripe red fruits; cherries, plums, and darker berry fruits. There is also a lovely floral component, predominantly violets and red roses. Following a myriad of increasingly complex characters including herbs and spices, with lashings of vanilla and chocolate.
On the palate it is rich and spicy and very appealing. Chocolate notes as well as cherries, dark fruits, spices and developing savoury hints, which all contribute to the silky smooth mouth-feel. This is a beautifully textured wine with fine grained tannins, refined acid balance and appealing complexity. Therefore it lingers beautifully and leaves a very elegant, refined impression with a nice herbal character. It will continue to develop for many years to come and should gain even greater complexity.
Food Match:
Pair with beef, veal, game or poultry.
Region/Producer:
Riverby Estate derives its name from the tranquil Opawa River, which winds through the Marlborough Region of New Zealand. The river’s rich resources were invaluable to the local farmers as well as the source of their favourite meal; the Rainbow Trout. In the 1930s Opawa River was diverted to stop Blenheim from flooding and the landscape was changed forever. Its redirection inadvertently transformed Riverby Estate into one of New Zealand’s finest wine growing properties.
Harvesting:
The fruit for their Reserve Pinot Noir was all grown on their Jacksons Road vineyard. Several different Pinot clones were utilised to add complexity. Notably clones UDC 5, 114, 115, 667 and 777. The oldest vines are 24 years old. They identified the best rows of each individual Pinot clone from early in the season and “reserved” them for this wine, hence its reserve name.
2015 was a perfect vintage for Marlborough with ideal growing conditions and no pressure from disease. As a consequence, they could pick the grapes for this wine when they had achieved perfect ripeness. The grapes for their Reserve Pinot Noir were all hand-picked over several days in late March 2015 as each clone attained optimum ripeness. Only perfectly ripe and clean bunches were selected by the pickers. The average yield was approximately 5.5 tonnes per hectare.
Firstly, the bunches were destemmed and the fruit was cold soaked for up to five days, before being hand plunged in open-top fermenters. Secondly, it is then transferred to our very best, especially selected barrels. Eventually ended up spending almost 16 months in oak, a significant portion new oak, before being bottled on 12 August 2016. Lastly, it was then cellared carefully for almost three more years before finally being released in June 2019.
For more information about the producer: https://www.riverbyestate.com/
