2013 was a near perfect vintage in Martinborough. It had a hot and dry summer with cool evenings. Winemakers had the opportunity to produce wines of optimal phenolic ripeness with good acidity. The two best Pinot Noirs I’ve tasted so far from the vintage have been …
2013 Escarpment Pinot Noir Kupe- New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough
Already being recognised by critics (Wine Spectator No 7 WoTY, James Suckling 99 points), I’ve shared a bottle with friends and tasted it alongside the rest of the 2013 Escarpment Pinot Noir range and the 2012 and 2011 Kupes. Vines planted in 1999, this is the ninth and clearly the best vintage. I’ve always regarded the Kiwa, from around 30 year old vines, as the top Escarpment SV cuvée but, in my view, in 2013 the Kupe is the better wine. But it’s a major change in size and scale … Very deep, impenetrable colour. On bouquet, compressed aromatics. Aromas of black cherries and other dark fruit, underbrush and dark earth. On palate, a big, brooding beast. Serious matière and huge structure. Palate staining with serious mid palate weight. Flavours of blackberries, Black Doris plums, bramble, dark peaty soil and liquorice. The 70% whole bunch lends a spicy, herby edge and more complexity to the wine. The oak handling is sympathetic (55% new French oak) and the acidity good. It reminded me of a Morey St Denis, perhaps a Clos de Tart. A friend however questioned the wine as lacking ‘pinosity’ and certainly, at this time, no one would describe it as elegant or floral. Normally the winemaker Larry McKenna recommends 5-10 years cellaring for his SV wines. Here he is recommending 10-20 years. This is 10 years minimum cellaring proposition.
2013 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir- New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough
Also receiving favourable reviews (Julia Harding for Jancis Robinson 18/20, James Suckling No 5 WoTY), I’ve tasted the 2013 twice. Made from vines up to 30 years old. Deep ruby red colour. A more elegant and lifted nose than the Kupe with red and black berries, florals, spice and bonfire aromas. Also, on palate, more elegant and refined than the Kupe. Still, serious weight of ripe, rich, bright fruit. Good fruit sweetness on entry. Flavours of red and black cherries, red currants and smoky bacon fat, with an edge of savoury, dried herbs (I assume from the 30% whole clusters). Juicy and succulent with good acidity and spherical, smooth tannins (35% new French oak). At this early stage, in my opinion, the 2013 Pinot Noir competes with wines like the 2003, 2006 or 2010 to be the best Ata Rangi has produced in the last 30 years. Give the 2013 5+ years in the cellar.
I was in Martinborough earlier this year and I was impressed by the Pinot Noirs as well. I really think Martinborough is producing the best PNs in New Zealand.
The lack of pinosity is a bit of worrying feature. One would require a lot of faith to put these wines away for 15-20 years hoping they would then show the breath taking allure of a great pinot (Burgundy).
Thanks for the notes Howard. Unfortunately I would have to disagree with you on this occasion, having seen both those wines very recently. Our tasting group really disliked both, several experienced tasters thought they were cool climate shiraz!!! I was particularly disappointed with the Ata Rangi, which bore absolutely no varietal characteristics whatsoever. These wines were seen in conjunction with a bracket of 1er Cru Burgs from 2013, and the French wines made their NZ cousins seem somewhat bland and simple.
However, I have in the past seen several Burgs, particularly young Mazis, present like this only to blossom after 15 years in the bottle, so I can only hope these wines behave in a similar fashion (particularly as I stupidly purchased a case of each on reputation prior to tasting them!!!)
We were left scratching our collective heads with the reputation the 2013 vintage has achieved, for us, 2010 is a far better year in Martinborough. Still, time will tell.
oh, and I see James Suckling gave the Escarpment 99 points. I actually like Suckling and subscribe to his site, but only for Bordeaux. That score re-enforced my thoughts that as far as Burgundy/Pinot Noir is concerned, our palates are polar opposites.
Sanjay, you take a leap of faith anytime you cellar a wine in the hope that it will be transformed into something better.
To state the obvious, anyone who thinks New World Pinot + Time = Burgundy is in for a lot of disappointment.
Having said that, Howard and I were at a lunch on Saturday where we were served (blind) a wine that we all thought was Gevrey-Chambertin. It turned out to be a New Zealand wine; the 1999 Neudorf Moutere Pinot Noir from Nelson. It held its own along side the “other” Gevreys we at the lunch, including Esmonin 2012 CSJ, Rousseau Mazis 2007 and Charmes 2006 and, for a wine of similar age, Rene Leclerc Gevrey-Chambertin Combes aux Moines 1998.
I will be dipping into my 2013 Martinborough Pinots from time to time to see how they are travelling over the next 10 or 15 years.
My note on the 2013 Escarpment Pinot Noir Kupe from a tasting earlier this year:
Savoury and brambly character as expected from Martinborough region with 100% Abel Clone. Dark fruit and an obvious whole bunch character in the form of fragrance and some smokyness. Good purity on palate; more crystalline in its structure. Tannins are finer than the other single wines at Escarpment in 2013. 70% whole bunch. Serious wine.
I agree with Howard that this is the best Kupe Pinot Noir so far.
I have tasted the bottled Ata Rangi only once and did not take a note; my impressions are similar to Howard. It is a beautifully fragrant wine. There is little comparison between the two winemaking styles both in terms of blending or single vineyard expressions and degree of extraction.
As a reminder, we tasted the 2013 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir in parts almost two years ago:
One needs to relativise what might be a warm to hot summer in Martinborough; this is not Barossa nor even a hot Burgundy summer. The growing area in Martinborough is turned directly towards the South Pole and there is no land between the southern end of the valley and Scott Base. As I write, there is a gentle 60 mile/hour breeze which at this time of the year (the latter part of spring) is still restrained. This is very marginal wine-growing climate and the success of 2013 should not be mistaken as having produced an overripe vintage. This is what some of us like about Martinborough: vintage is an essential characteristic of these wines.
Robert, I agree with your Kupe note on CT. Did you get to try the Ata Rangi too?
Nicholas, your posts really remind me of the expression YMMV …
I’m not a James Suckling fan or subscriber but I wouldn’t count his favourable reviews against these two wines …
To me, the Escarpment is the much bigger expression (but still not overdone) …
To give another view of the Ata Rangi, Julia Harding MW last month did a 20 year retrospective of AR PNs for the Jancis Robinson website describing the 2013 as “particularly fine”:
Ata Rangi Pinot Noir 2013 Martinborough 18/20
2013 has been described as the best in a decade, even the best in 30 years by some. It was much warmer than 2012 with reasonable yields after a mild spring. December was dry and warm, but January cooled off, slowing ripening. A well-timed dump of rain arrived in mid February to ease the drought. Lovely March weather ensured full seed and tannin ripeness, but the real clincher was the cold, crisp, clear April, which gave us fruit in pristine condition - not a sign of shrivelling or disease, with acidity, pH and sugars in perfect balance. GDD 1,250, 30% whole bunch. Cool nights. Deep ruby. Surprisingly complex aroma already — still with primary dark-red fruit but also a smoky savoury depth. Super-fine tannins, amazingly elegant even at this young age, concentrated too. Dry-textured and refined. Seems almost weightless on the palate but it still has depth and length. Cool and juicy.
(JH)
Drink 2017-2028
£47.99 RRP
I don’t quote the review to ‘prove’ anything. However, JR’s website is not known for favouring fruit bombs or non-varietal wines.
Yup, always interested to see your notes Howard as I think we usually agree. The only Rangi I’ve tasted didn’t appeal to me, found it soft, plush, and bordering over ripe. Want to say it was a 2012, but it was brought back by a friend for me and I’m surprised I didn’t bother to publish a TN on it. May have to give it another shot in '13
Howard, happy to have different views on these wines, you may be right, I may be right, we will find out around 2023!!! I hope you are correct, given I still have 22 bottles of these two wines to drink!! I will bury them for a decade and then have another look.
As you can see, I rarely post on this DB, but put this up because I was quite surprised, as I have found that your previous TN’s align well with my palate. Go figure!!
Nicholas, different views and different palates are half of the fun of discussion on WBs and other boards …
I don’t know where you’re based but another option would of course be to sell some … they should hold their values. The Kupe in particular sold out very quickly in NZ and worldwide as far as I know and the AR PN is fast going that way …
FWIW just been going through an Ata Rangi 2013 over two days. Big mistake yesterday was to start in one of those small tasting glasses - the wine seemed gnarly and angry and yes, perhaps even like a syrah. Quick switch and a lot of airtime and the wine was much improved, definitely still in the dark and big spectrum, though clearly lively acids too. Day two it hasn’t really shifted much. A lot of stone fruit-stone puckering tannin and structure. Small pours, lots of air needed to tease out aromatics.
Nicholas: I can see why this would seem quite … different next to “normal” vintage cool-climate burgundy.
Very, very young and in need of time to settle down.
In China/Australia. Yea, I could sell, but it would be much more fun to wait and see As I said, I will bury them for a decade, I purchased on faith, so I may as well keep that faith!!
I am doing a 2009 Burg horizontal at Christmas for the extended family, and intend to chuck in bottles of the 09 Kupe and Te Rehua to have a look see how they are all developing. Should be interesting. For me, the Te Rehua was the better wine of the two that vintage.
Sounds interesting Nicholas. I recently did something similar with a 2009 Kiwa:
2009 Escarpment Pinot Noir Kiwa- New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough (10/26/2015) Burg v Kiwi Pinot Noir: The most Burgundian of NZ pinot noirs, from 30+ year old vines. Serving it blind, I wondered if my friends would pick it as Burgundy and all but one did. One taster said that the fruit weight here was easily better 1er and perhaps Grand Cru level. A polished nose of dark cherries, black raspberries, dark earth and sous bois. Juicy, rich with good volume on the palate. Oak well integrated. Detailed flavours matching the bouquet. Well balanced. A good vintage of one of NZ’s top pinots. Drink in the next eight years or so.
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As I said, I will bury them for a decade, I purchased on faith, so I may as well keep that faith!!