Corofin Marlborough Pinot Noir 2023

Accolades:
93/100 – James Suckling
93/100 – Jamie Goode, Wine Anorak (2022 vintage)
92/100 – Stephen Wong MW (2022 vintage)
92/100 – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front (2022 vintage)

“This has an attractive nose of red berries, blueberries, grapefruit peel and savory nuances alongside flinty, wet-stone minerality. Medium-bodied, crunchy and brisk on the palate, with lively, energetic tension. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling

Tasting Note: Sensual; red fruited and savoury with fine acid tannin balance. A reflection of a longer growing season, which delivered great physiological ripeness. The La Niña weather pattern continued from 2022 into the 2023 growing season in Marlborough, with warm and wet easterly patterns dominating. Flowering and fruit set were variable and protracted, with fruit set in chardonnay below average, which moderated yields. The lighter crops proved to be vital in combating disease, as the warmth and humidity carried into January and early February. Unlike the 2022 season — when this weather continued into harvest — in mid-February 2023, the tropical systems weakened in Marlborough and thankfully, a settled and dry late summer and autumn prevailed. Combined with smaller yields, these conditions delivered full flavour ripeness with ripe acidity, preserved through the pronounced diurnal shifts of long warm days and cool nights.

Winemaking Notes: Source Blocks: Wrekin (Fairhall Valley) 55%; Settlement (Omaka Valley) 45%, Harvested: Settlement, March 17th; The Wrekin, March 19th. A longer growing season promoting great physiological ripeness. Grapes were hand-picked into ½ ton bins and transported to the winery. Fruit for all batches was sorted and de-stemmed into tank then sealed for five days at ambient temperature. Piegage was then employed, resulting in spontaneous rapid fermentation, lasting 8 to 10 days. During ferment, juice was poured back over the cap daily to maintain freshness and to facilitate gentle extraction. Post-fermentation the young wines were pressed, after a total of 19 days on skins for The Wrekin, 20 days for Settlement. The young wines were then settled and transferred separately in respective batches to seasoned (second and third year) French oak barrels. The wines remained in barrel for 13 months on original lees, undergoing a natural malolactic ferment during this period. Late April 2024 the wines were moved into tank, sulphured and remained there for 5 months prior to being racked and assembled in November 2024, for bottling in February 2025. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. A small natural deposit may occur.

Certification: Organic

Alcohol: 13.0%

Variety: Pinot Noir

Region: Marlborough, New Zealand