A seductive pinot noir

Aroha, meaning love, is a masterful combination from the Te Muna Road vineyard, says Matthew Jukes.

Matthew Jukes
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published
in Features

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2013 Craggy Range, Aroha Pinot Noir, Martinborough, New Zealand (£34.66in bond per bottle, Bordeaux Index,020-7269 0703, ;£66, Hedonism Wines, 020-7290 7870; £69, The New Zealand Cellar, 020-3633 3986; £46.95, ).

I recently met up with Matt Stafford, chief winemaker for Craggy Range, and ran through his new releases. Every bottle was of tiptop quality, underlining the excellence of this estate. Rather than blurting out a shopping list this week I have picked out the wines that really moved me.

Firstly, my focused pinot noir, which is without doubt the finest they have ever made. Aroha, meaning love, is a masterful combination of two parcels of vines from their Te Muna Road vineyard.With one third new French oak, this is not a dry, tannic Martinborough style but a haunting, aromatic, seductive pinot which already looks ravishing in the glass. I urge you to taste it.

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From their other vineyard stronghold, in Hawke's Bay's Gimblett Gravels sub-region, comes a staggeringly bright and peppery 2013 syrah (£17.50, The Wine Society, 01438-741177) and a cracking Bordeaux blend, 2013 Te Kahu (£16.50, also Wine Soc.). This wine is half the price of the much vaunted 2013 Sophia, which is a beast in need of slumber, and I feel that in spite of its slimmer lines it performs its duties admirably.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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