Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard Mansons Farm Pinot Noir, Central Otago
Mansons Farm Pinot Noir is handcrafted in very limited quantities, this is its second release. Earthy, savoury, wild raspberry notes dominate, with background violet floral notes. Floral notes lift the red berry characters, that introduce the wine. These flow into a more densely sculptured mid-palate. The wine continues to build through the finish, and displays a lovely tension through persistent fine-grained tannins acidity and spicy red berry fruit.
This is only the second release of this single vineyard wine from one of the older vineyard sites in Bannockburn. A seductively soft and silken pinot noir, with initial fruit sweetness giving way to a pleasantly drying finish. Quite a floral, fragrant wine with hidden depths that bottle age promises to reveal.
96 points, Bob Campbell MW (July 2018)
Black cherries and a forest-like, sappy edge here. This delivers a bold palate with assertive tannins and a black-cherry core and holds long and fresh. Handy depth and aging potential here.
94 points, Nick Stock (December 2018)
Serious perfume of dark cherries, cedary notes, clove, undergrowth – savouriness a big thing here. Fleshy-textured with rich fruit flavour but great freshness. Feels very ‘pedigree’ and well-groomed, loaded with fruit flavour, seasoned judiciously, drawn long on fine tannins. Serious pinot with some big impact.
93 points, Mike Bennie (September 2018)
Central Otago, located at the southern end of the South Island of New Zealand, is the world’s most southerly wine region. In a short amount of time, the area has established itself as a world-class region for Pinot Noir. The picturesque region is surrounded by mountains ensuring a cool semi-continental climate that experiences a large diurnal range contributing to the creation of intensely concentrated wines with perfume, and complexity. Central Otago’s vineyard area is divided into six distinct sub regions each with their own climate and wine style. Best known for producing intensely Fruity medium to full bodied Pinot Noir, Central Otago’s cool climate also produces outstanding Riesling as well as superb bottle-fermented Sparkling wines.
