Corofin Settlement Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022

Accolades:
95/100 – James Suckling
94/100 – Jamie Goode, Wine Anorak
94/100 – Stephen Wong MW

“An intensely spicy, smoky and subtly fruity pinot with strawberry and cherry undertones. It’s medium-bodied with firm tannins and a lightly chewy finish. Fresh acidity. I like the way it closes down at the end with some fascinating matchstick flavors. Better in two or three years when it will open and soften slightly.” – James Suckling

“This is a north-facing vineyard in the Omaka valley, with clay soils. Expressive and fine with a nice subtle green sappy edge to the redcurrant and cherry fruit. But there’s also a nice mid-palate with fine cherry fruit, a herbal twist and a nice juicy edge.” – Jamie Goode, Wine Anorak

“A complex and beguiling nose with sweet earthy aromas, coffee, leather and black cherry. In the mouth, it is dark and brooding with expansive flavours of savoury olive and sumac before firm drying tannins close in mid-palate. Not a fruit-driven wine, this seems more developed with notes of cigarbox and bayleaf lingering on the finish. A savoury, complex and earthy mid-weight wine which has a mysteriousness about it and coiled power, though not a blockbuster either. Approachable already, with the potential to unfurl further in the mid-term.” – Stephen Wong MW

Tasting Note: Red, earthy and warm. Wonderful purity but with savoury substance behind it, extending something ethereal as only Settlement does. Settlement Vineyard is planted on the slopes of the Omaka Valley in Marlborough. Owned by Dog Point and managed with immense intelligence and insight by viticulturist Nigel Sowman. The East Slope lies in a nor-nor-east orientation and is planted at a density of 4,000 vines per hectare on clay-rich soils.

Winemaking Notes: Hand-harvested 19th March 2022 into 1/2 ton bins. Yield: 40 hL/ha. Completely (100%) destemmed to two, one-tonne open-tops. Fifteen percent of fruit in bottom of tanks foot crushed, with remainder as whole berries on top. During ferment, the fermenting juice was poured back over the cap once a day to maintain freshness and to facilitate gentle extraction. Post-fermentation, the young wine was pressed after 19 days on skins, then settled and transferred to seasoned (second and third-year) French oak barrels. The wine remained in barrel for 14 months on original lees, undergoing a natural malolactic ferment during this period. Late Apr. 2023 the wine was moved to tank, sulphured and remained in tank for a further eight months prior to being racked and hand bottled in Janurary 2024. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. A small natural deposit may occur. Sealed with cork.

Certification: Organic

Alcohol: 13.0%

Variety: Pinot Noir

Region: Marlborough, New Zealand