Description

Tasting Note

This is juicy and soft Pinot Noir with fresh cherry and spice character. Good with Chinese duck or grilled tuna.

Grape

Indigenous to northern France, but now grown all over the world in cooler zones, Pinot Noir is one of the greatest red varieties producing wines with a wonderfully aromatic nose and silky texture. Thins skins give Pinots a lightish colour, but levels of tannins are nonetheless high. Typically wines have medium acidity, medium body with red cherry and berry aromas in youth and develop more funky farmyard notes with age.

Producer

Ruud Maasdam founded the Staete Landt winery in 1998 with the vision of making intensely flavoured, complex and 100% estate grown wines from their 21 hectare vineyard on the ‘Golden Mile’ in Rapaura Marlborough. The Staete Landt Vineyard was designed to produce single vineyard, hand made wines with complexity through thorough use of clone, rootstock and soil variation and today produces highly regarded single estate Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Viognier and Syrah.

Region

Marlborough is New Zealand’s most important wine region. Situated at the northeastern tip of the South Island, this dry, sunny region is home to more than 500 growers and produces more than three-quarters of all New Zealand wine. It is particularly famous for its pungent, zesty white wines made from Sauvignon Blanc, but also produces good value Pinot Noir.

Food Pairing

With good acidity and medium weight Pinot Noir is a very food friendly style that works well with red meats and hard cheese. With a bit of age the wines are excellent with game birds, venison, wild mushrooms and truffles.