Product Line

Light-tinted, supple pinot noir with cherry, fresh herb, raspberry, chestnut and spicy oak flavours. Elegant wine in a relatively light style and with surprising power and a backbone of peppery tannins. BOB CAMBELL, The Real Review

; Hua Nui, Winery and Pencarrow. The fruit is a blend of Clones 667, 777, 115, 10/5, MV6 and Abel. All handpicked with 5% whole cluster. A period of cold soak followed by wild fermentations and gentle pumpovers and plunging. The wine is pressed to French Oak barrels and left to mature for a period of 10 months during which time it undergoes malolactic fermentation to soften the wine and add complexity.

The 2021 Masters Chardonnay is spicy and concentrated on the nose, with lashings of fruit flavor in the mouth. This has a really savory edge to it that sits so gracefully within the fruit. You get salted peach, white tea/dandelion, cracked fennel seeds, a hint of cumin, white pepper, curls of saffron and loads of crushed shells. This is sleek and polished—it moves sort of like a spearhead through the air. There is full malolactic conversion here but within a tighter frame, and it is a kaleidoscopic, balanced experience. Feels good, smells good, tastes good. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. ERIN LARKIN, The Wine Advocate


Even more restrained than the 2020, this is very young, showing tightly wound fruit framed by carefully judged oak and a flinty reductive edge. The fruit is precise and detailed, poised between white peach, apple and lemon with a touch of cream, delicately floral perfume and fantastically driving acidity. This has a coiled, energetic core of citrus/apple fruit, coupled with a hint of phenolic bitterness to accentuate its chalky minerality. Crystalline and etched, this is very elegant, vibrant Chardonnay with a fine-grained, flowing texture. Focussed, tight and refreshingly pure on the finish, the quality and class is undeniable. STEPHEN WONG MW

The 2021 Pinot Noir is svelte and balanced; it's really settled into itself now at two years post-harvest. There's a nice, fleshy green parsley note on the nose. The fruit tastes ripe and fleshy and feels it in the mouth too. Nice mineral acidity shapes the wine and keeps it alive in the mouth. This is super pleasurable drinking here. There are pomegranate pearls and pink peppercorns. There is energy here. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

This is composed of 61.5% Te Muna Road Vineyard, with the balance from in town. It was plunged once daily and spent 20 days on the skins. Aging was in 22% new oak for 11 months, with a further nine months in tank. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. ERIN LARKIN, The Wine Advocate

Most if not all escarpment Pinots Noir need to be given the time to develop, build complexities and show their true potential. This was the legacy that Larry Mackenna and his team set, today’s team led by Tim Bourne is continuing this legacy easily showcased in this wine. Aromas and flavours are rich and taut, complex and detailed. A wine that opens up to reveal its potential after 3 days open. Dark berries and plum, spices and dried herb, savoury and complex, mushroom and smoke. Lengthy, dry and complex. Best drinking from 2026 through 2036. CAM DOUGLAS MW

The 2021 Pahi Pinot Noir has a gorgeous nose that's totally expressive and pure in its outlay of aroma, with Pink Lady apples, pomegranate pearls, layers of red cherry, white strawberry, star anise, a hint of arnica/mint and a ripple of sumac and blood orange/ginger spice through the finish. Superb, gorgeous with lovely energy. The nose is laced with freshly turned red earth, which is crazy because there is no "freshly turned red earth" in the vineyard, yet it is ferruginous, iodine-y, etc., which carries through all the 2021 single-vineyard Pinots. Tannins are silky. With 58% whole bunch, there's "big bunch energy," joked winemaker Tim Bourne. I agree.13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Pahi tends to have a lifted perfume—"'Te Muna Road perfume' we call that," says Tim. Grapes were picked on April 3 and spent 25 days on skins. Clone 5 and Abel were used. Aging was in 25% new oak for 20 months, racked once, then bottled unfined and unfiltered. (95) ERIN LARKIN,. The Wine Advocate

An enticing fragrance of fresh dark cherries and dried herbs, plum and sweet wood with a light smoke touch. There’s a gentle perfume and floral frame. On the palate firm touch with a core of ripe dark berried fruits for contrast. There’s some subtle power with tannins and acidity framing the wine nicely and a core of fruit flavours that reflect the bouquet. Firm and dry, lengthy and well made, I feel this wine needs some cellar time to complete its harmony. Best drinking from 2025 through 2032+. CAM DOUGLAS MW

This is impeccably composed and seductively expressed, showing dark cherry, clove, thyme and cedar characters on the nose with a gorgeous floral overtone. The concentrated palate is plush yet poised and refined with fleshy texture and perfectly pitched tannins. The wine exhibits stunning depth with layers of delectable flavours and meticulously structured mouthfeel, leading to a totally captivating, sensual finish. (99) SAM KIM, Wine Orbit

The 2021 Pinot Noir definitely reflects vintage. Its good colour and abundance of gravelly tannins display the smaller berried, smaller vintage. Its bright fruit, intense concentration and plentiful acidity accompany primary red fruit flavour, with an impressive show of ample black tea leaf-like tannins. It's a wine for the long haul that draws out to an extended finish. (97) REBECCA GIBB MW, Vinous

Lively and vibrant red fruits of wild strawberries and red cherries followed by rose hips, ground spices and a touch of citrus zest. Medium-bodied, finely grained velvety tannins with a delightful acid backbone. Zesty and layered wine with beautiful balance and complexity. It's already enjoyable but will age gracefully. (97) JAMES SUCKLING

The 2021 Pinot Noir is vibrant on the nose and totally precise and focused. The acid spools right from the front of the palate and has a mobile, agile way about it. The season may have had it's challenges, but the wine is effortless, natural and shapely. It's great. The 40% whole bunch here sits well within the red fruit and creates a capacious mid-palate without an impact of stalky flavour. Superb. A real pleasure to drink. ERIN LARKIN, Wine Advocate

The 2022 Pinot Noir leads with coffee grounds, black cherry, satsuma plum skin, Szechuan peppercorn, pink peppercorns, a hint of raspberry leaf tea and graphite. The wine smells savory while delivering all of these things. In the mouth, it is fine-boned but persistent and behaves in a gentle, splayed sort of manner through the finish. It's a very pretty wine, one that is quiet now, but I feel it will age slowly and elegantly in the cellar. This is a wine to drink now and to perhaps misunderstand in doing so. Or it's a wine to be patient with and reap the benefits after five or so years and beyond. I love the wine here, today, but I'd be cautious to recommend drinking your bottles too early—consider from 2027. ERIN LARKIN, Wine Companion

Herbal, high energy pinot noir with cherry, hedgerow, pepper/spice, and grape stem characters. Youthful wine that would benefit from bottle age. Quite complex with layers of floral, fruit and savoury flavours. BOB CAMPBELL, The Real Review