Last month’s Martinborough Star wine column was all about the benefits of ageing wine and highlighted the newly released 2021 Blue Earth Pinot Noir from the eponymous vineyard at the southern end of Te Muna Valley.
It’s an outstanding example of beautifully aged wine and leads into this month’s column about four new Ata Rangi Pinot Noirs that also deserve a space in your ‘cellar’ (aka wherever you choose to keep a few precious bottles).
Ata Rangi winemaker Helen Masters is celebrating her 20th vintage and like many winemakers, she has been busy on the road to officially release the 2024 Ata Rangi Pinot Noirs. It’s the third time she has made three single vineyard Ata Rangi Pinot Noirs and the flagship Ata Rangi Pinot (a blend of different vineyards). This may seem like a trifling detail. How different can a Pinot Noir taste when it comes from a site that’s just a few hundred metres away? Or a few kilometres down the road?
The answer is: very.
Pinot Noir is known for being a pretty sensitive grape when it comes to climatic shifts in temperature, rainfall and wind. Its framework comes from balancing fresh vibrancy (derived from natural acidity in grapes) with structural depth and delicate fruit flavours. Pinot Noir is not the most tannic kid on the vinous block – especially when compared to, say, Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah but in the best vintages, its tannins do shine. Ironically, the best Pinots are often more tannic than usual due to the weather. The 2024 vintage is just such a year. Wines from 2024 in Martinborough are characterised by smaller grapes and lower crop levels than usual, which brings exceptional structure to
the wines.
The 2024 vintage marks 20 years of winemaking at Ata Rangi for Helen Masters and also the first vintage for assistant winemaker Katie Cameron at the winery. It was a stellar season because the fruit (the grapes) arrived with such purity of flavour that, as Masters says, “it wasn’t about having to make the wines at all. It’s about letting the grapes and wines speak for themselves.”
It was a stellar season because the fruit (the grapes) arrived with such purity of flavour that, as Masters says, “it wasn’t about having to make the wines at all. It’s about letting the grapes and wines speak for themselves.”
Fab four – new 2024 Ata Rangi Pinot Noirs
2024 Ata Rangi Kotinga Pinot Noir RRP $125
2024 Ata Rangi Masters Pinot Noir RRP $125
2024 Ata Rangi McCrone Pinot Noir RRP $125
2024 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir RRP $90
WINE OF THE MONTH
2024 Ata Rangi Kotinga Pinot Noir RRP $125
Kotinga is the name of a stony vineyard on Puruatanga Road, which is home to the grapes that made this exceptionally fragrant Pinot Noir. Impressively structured, it was made with 40% whole bunch fermentation which brings lifted aromatic complexity to this wine with raspberries, fresh spice, subtle cedar aromas and more, all in an excellent framework of subtle power. Certified organic, and bottled unfined and unfiltered.
It’s a keeper or enjoy now, decanted into a decent glass, please.
