Lawson's Dry Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 2017

Accolades

James Suckling (jamessuckling.com): 92/100. This has an attractive array of ripe red cherries and blueberries with a swathe of fresh, sappy and herbal aromas and flavors. Succulent, deep-set tannins hold plenty of flavor on the finish. Drink now.

Decanter World Wine Awards 2019: Silver & 94/100. A layered nose of savoury, fruity and floral aromas. Crunchy fruit flavours on the palate and some tannic grip giving texture.

Bob Campbell, MW: 93/100. Attractively-scented pinot noir with cherry, plum, floral, violet, red rose and sweet herb flavours plus spicy oak. An accessible wine with a core of sweet fruit that makes for delicious drinking right now. Good value. Drink 2020 - 2023.

Michael Cooper: 5 stars. Still very youthful, the great-value 2017 vintage (5 stars) was grown at two sites in the Waihopai Valley and matured in French oak barriques (25 per cent new). Deep ruby, it is mouthfilling, concentrated and fruit-packed, with deep, plummy, spicy flavours, a firm underlay of tannin and the structure to mature well. Best drinking 2021+. 

New Zealand International Wine Show 2020: Silver.

Cuisine Magazine: Excellent & Top 10 & Best Buy. A curious combination of wild bramble and red raspberry notes with a hint of lavender on the nose. Yet the palate delivery is soft and velvety with freshness promoting the ripe, herbal flavour notes combined with spice and silky red fruits.

Tasting Note

This wine offers a complex array of aromatics ranging from dark berry fruits through to savoury forest floor characters. The palate is softy and silky with exuberant berry and cherry flavours. This wine has a full mid-palate, good length and a rich, flavoursome finish.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: red wine

Grape varial: 100% Pinot Noir

Alcohol: 13.5% vol

Food match: Game, hot ham, turkey, flavoursome chicken dishes, chargrilled foods, pork, vegetarian dishes.

Wine region: Marlborough, New Zealand

Winemaking: The fruit is harvested into open-top fermenters where it undergoes a cold maceration before fermentation kicks off spontaneously. The cap (a layer of grape skins that float to the top) was punched down three times a day to extract maximum flavour. Tanks were left on skins between seven and 20 days post ferment before being pressed into a mixture of French oak barriques and puncheons (25% new). After ten months, the best clones and barrels were selected for this wine.

Residual sugar: 0 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites, egg white-fined.

Cellaring potential: 2022+

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: Lawson's Dry Hills Wines Limited, PO Box 4020, Redwood Village,Blenheim 7242, Neuseeland