2020 Kōparepare Marlborough Pinot Noir
$27.00
TASTING NOTE
Kōparepare (gift or contribution in Te Reo Māori) is a passion project from Whitehaven Wines. For every bottle sold, we donate to LegaSea, a non-profit organisation dedicated to restoring marine abundance in NZ.
Colour / Appearance: Medium ruby with bright clarity.
Aroma / Bouquet: Lifted red cherry, raspberry, and floral notes on the nose with hints of dried thyme and cinnamon spice.
Palate: This medium bodied wine has varietal flavours of red cherry, wild strawberry, cinnamon spice, and hints of cocoa. The palate is elegantly framed with silky tannins and a refreshing, clean finish.
Cellaring: Best enjoyed fresh and young but will age well with careful cellaring for 2-3 years.
Food Match: Red meat and game dishes such as venison, duck and rare lamb.
Serve: Lightly chilled.
WINE ANALYSIS
Alcohol: 13.5%
Residual Sugar: 1 g/L
Acidity: 5.1 g/L
pH: 3.61
VITICULTURE
Climate: 2020 was a classical growing season, with plenty of sunshine, not too much heat through Summer, and a return to cool nights preceding harvest, ensuring acidities and flavours remained bright and vibrant. This was all built on good rainfall pre-Christmas, which set the vines up with healthy working canopies that held through to the end of harvest. The weather over harvest was settled and dry, allowing fruit to be harvested in lovely condition.
Grape Growing: Fruit for this wine was sourced from vineyards located in the Omaka and Awatere Valleys of Marlborough. The vines were trained to 2-cane VSP, and throughout the growing season shoot thinning, leaf plucking, and crop thinning were used to achieve balanced vines, and an open, healthy canopy. The fruit was exceptionally clean, allowing the Winemakers to pick at optimal ripeness during harvest.
WINEMAKING
Harvest Dates: 16th - 24th March, 2021
Winemaking: At the winery the fruit was de-stemmed and loaded into various open-top fermenters. A mix of wild and commercial yeast strains were used to ferment this wine. Following pressing off, we matured this wine in mostly old French barriques (7% new) for around 10 months. After this time, we emptied the barrels and let the wine sit on light lees in stainless tanks for 2-3 months, before blending and filtration. The wine was bottled on the 26th May 2021.
ACCOLADES
- "Attractively fruited and inviting, the bouquet shows sweet cherry, olive, hazelnut and subtle mushroom characters, leading to a beautifully rounded palate offering ripe fruit intensity with elegant complexity. Delightfully framed by fine polished tannins, offering excellent drinking." 91/100 Points (4.5 Stars) - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
- "Juicy redcurrant and canned strawberry aromas mingle with savoury spice. The palate is fruit-forward, offering bramble and blackberry alongside hints of plum. Toasty oak seasons the fruit, while well-balanced acidity keeps everything fresh. The finish lingers with layers of fruit and spice. Fruit-forward charm meets savoury complexity." 90/100 Points (4.5 stars) - The Wine Writer
- 90/100 Points (4 Stars) - Candice Chow (Raymond Chan Wine Reviews)
- "This wine has come together so well. Its lightness in colour translates to a fine-boned frame and vivid palate. More red fruit than dark, pepper, spice and herbal notes are carried by a current of juicy acidity. There's a plushness to the fruit, filling out the delicate structure and landing gravitas." - John Saker 'The List' (Marlborough Pinot Noir Tasting 2024).
