Escarpment Kupe Pinot Noir 2014
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The vines which have grown this wine have been our pride and joy since being planted in 1999. The spacing of 1.5m * 1m (6,600 vines/ha) is approaching the planting densities used in Burgundy from where the inspiration for this wine comes. The season was warm and drier than average for this block. It has created fruit harvested in brilliant condition giving ripe flavours and soft tannins. The summer was as good as the inspirational 2013 vintage.
Fermented in wooden French cuvees, hand plunged and aged in 50% new French oak barriques for 18 months. It was bottled without fining or filtration, promoting soft mouth feel and texture.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
I saw these grapes on the vine the night before harvest in 2014 and they were remarkable for their flavorsome depth and thick but supple skin texture. The wine carries the same qualities. It's deeply complex, indulging from the outset in graphite and black cherries on the nose, in fine combination with dark spices, rosehip, toasty oak and sweet, freshly dug earth. The palate rolls through like a perfectly formed wave, delivering an arc of dark-plum and cherry fruit, as the tannins curl and twist on the finish before releasing a fresh surge of tangy plum flavors. They hold long and bold, making for a highly impressive wine. There are several phases already, but this will really peak around 2021 and hold for several years after.
-
Wine Spectator
Deep and complex, with vanilla bean and roasted beet notes to the licorice-scented plum and wild blackberry flavors. Smoke, frankincense and sarsaparilla details mingle with cedar and black tea elements on the long, velvety, expressive finish. Drink now through 2026.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Kupe Chardonnay offers savory, baking bread and yeast extract notes with grapefruit and orange blossoms. This satiny textured, medium-bodied Chardonnay is finely knit with tons of freshness and a long mineral-laced finish.
Other Vintages
2020-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator
-
Robert
Parker - Vinous
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
-
James
Suckling - Decanter
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator
- Decanter
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
Escarpment Vineyard was established in 1999 as a joint business venture between Robert & Mem Kirby (of Australia's Village Roadshow) and Larry & Sue McKenna. Collectively, these four directors bring to Escarpment a world of experience, skill and understanding to the nurturing and making of fine, deliciously sublime wine. It goes without saying the impetus behind establishing this vineyard came from the four's deep love for Pinot Noir. Meeting by chance in 1999 through Dr Richard Smith, Larry and Robert quickly hit it off and realised they had more than a love for the grape in common. Serious talk about establishing a definitive New World vineyard began in earnest even then and the 'idea whose time has come' has resulted in one of the most significant vineyard developments in the New Zealand district of Martinborough. Escarpment is accredited with Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand, an industry initiative directed through New Zealand Winegrowers. With a growing trade and consumer demand for environmentally friendly products, it provides an important platform to promote the New Zealand wine industry as a world leader in clean, green wine production.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Part of the Wairarapa region in the southern end of the country’s North Island, Martinborough is a bucolic appellation full of artisan, lifestyle wine producers. Above all else, their goals are to tend vineyards for low yields and create wines of supreme quality. Pinot noir is the main grape variety here, occupying over half of the land under vine.
Comparing topography, climate and soils, the region is nearly identical to Marlborough except that it produces top quality reds on the regular.