Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2020

A creamy and delicious pinot with sliced strawberry, dark cherry, lemon rind and other citrus fruit. Crushed-stone undertones. It’s full-bodied, but not heavy. Lovely texture and a succulent finish. Drink or hold. 

The silky-smooth 2017 Pinot Noir features scents of damp loam, black cherries, cola and dried spices. It's medium to full-bodied on the palate, round and concentrated without any rough edges, and it tapers to a lingering finish that shows just a light dusting of fine-grained tannins. It's a solid effort from a producer with a long history in the region.

Oct 2016 - Firm and focused, with wild berry and plum flavors, accented by licorice and cedar hints. A touch of pine needle and forest floor adds an aromatic detail. The licorice element lingers on the finish. Drink now through 2026.

May 2016 - Healthy medium red. Plum, dark cherry, strawberry, licorice and a hint of herbs on the nose and palate. In a slightly dry, savory style, offering modest flesh and sweetness but good acid lift. I like the balance of red and black fruit and spice flavors but the wine just misses on aromatic lift and precision. Daniel Sorrell noted that Marlborough Pinot Noir is built on its firm line of acidity and tannins, while Central Otago Pinot is more tannic, rich and opulent. Both of the 2014 Pinots were made in Cloudy Bay's old facility and were thus pumped and more heavily extracted ("Marlborough Pinot needs to be worked in all but the best years," says Sorrell), but the new winery, which allows the team to work entirely by gravity, opened just in time for the 2015 harvest.

Taut, elegant and quite complex Pinot Noir, with an array of flavours including cherry, raspberry, violet, anise and spicy oak. The wine has a nice balance between alcohol and fruit sweetness, with fine tannins giving a drying and layered finish. It opened up as it sat in the glass and deserves to be decanted or aerated before serving.

This wine boasts subtle black cherries and plums, framed in a bed of toasty, mocha-tinged oak. It's rich and silky, with a discreet dusting of cocoa on the long finish.