Craggy Range, Te Muna Road, Martinborough Pinot Noir 2018

Craggy Range are one of the finest wineries in New Zealand. They have been at the forefront of the Martinborough fine wine explosion for over twenty years.

Coming from some of the world's most exciting and talked-about sites for Pinot Noir of recent decades, the wine is elegant, balanced, pure and refined, yet has concentration, definition and purpose. Delivering bramble fruits, black cherry and summer fruit flavours, it is a classic Pinot of New World generosity yet restrained by cool-climate poise.

This is excellent wine from a producer on song, situated in one of the best regions going for this particular, and often uncooperative, variety.

One of the interesting points about Martinborough Pinot Noir is that is has developed as an out-working of the fall-out of the original excitement around New Zealand Pinot. The wine world rushed to experience the wines as producers from Marlborough promised a plethora of finely balanced, complex and fruit-forward wines. However, in quick succession the wines that followed lacked definition and balance or were too weedy and ethereal to warrant the initial excitement. We still know one or two producers of seriously wonderful Marlborough Pinots, but these are the exceptions. The refocused approach to New Zealand Pinot Noir led winemakers and vineyard owners to other regions that proved better able to deal with the capricious nature of Pinot Noir. First Central Otago, then Canterbury and eventually to the southern end of the North Island: Martinborough.

It's not as exposed to the harsh north winds of Nelson and Marlborough and isn't too hot, as the slopes face south (away from the sun in New Zealand). Not as prone to disease or mould, it really has lived up to the excitement it generated and is thankfully quite limited in its area of production.

Officially the wines that can use the name Martinborough come from the elevated Martinborough Terraces that were the original feature of the region. The Te Muna Road subzone is the sort of 'classico' version (in Italian terms) that has a higher level of gravel in the soils. This is where the Pinot Noir grapes for this wine come from. It's a special region, clearly defined, and this comes from the best subzone. Pretty awesome pedigree.