New Zealand Pinot Noir Expo 2025

The pure fruit really pops out, with fresh sliced strawberries and citrus. It’s medium-bodied with bright acidity and linear tannins. It’s really about the tension and crisp citrus nature to this. Drink now. Screw cap. JAMES SUCKLING

Wonderfully complex and new, there’s no mistaking the layers in the bouquet with aromas of place from minerality to ripe red berry fruits of boysenberry and plum then dark cherry and some raspberry suggestions. The scents of baking spices and smoke from barrel are both sweet and lifted as well as complex. A dry and equally complex wine touches the palate with textures and flavours that reflect the bouquet all at once teasing with polished tannins and medium+ acidity then red fruits and spice. Well made with a lengthy finish. Best drinking from 2025 through 2034. CAM DOUGLAS MW

 

Aromatic pinot noir with floral/red rose/violet, cherry, red-fleshed plum, wild thyme and raspberry flavours. Purity and restrained power with an impressively lengthy finish. Deliciously accessible wine with obvious cellaring potential. (95) BOB CAMPBELL, The Real Review

This is riper with dark cherries and red plums as well as hints of cocoa and light spices. Medium-bodied, compact and mouth-filling with fine, silky tannins. Layered and taut, yet fresh and vivid with a flavorful finish. Drink now. Sustainable. Screw cap. JAMES SUCKLING

Richly-textured pinot noir with moderately intense dark berry/cherry fruit flavours and mouth-puckering tannins that suggest good cellaring potential. The wine opened up as it sat in the glass and deserves to be aerated before and during consumption. (95) BOB CAMPBELL, The Real Review

A fresh and fine pinot with delicate strawberry and orange peel character. Medium-bodied with fine tannins and a crisp finish. Better in a year or two, but already delicious. Drink or hold. JAMES SUCKLING

Mid crimson garnet with a ruby glow. Fresh cut Doris plum and black Douglas cherry deliver a freshness and lift over a faint hint of black tea leaf and flint complexity. There is a deep core of primary fruit and a hint of briar leading into spicy Star anise and licorice root dusted with hints of nutmeg powder.

Plush and juicy entry with plum and dark cherry over raspberry coulis. Very energetic, hints of cherry ripe and long, so long, intense but open and supple. The tannins are very slippery and seductive but finish with resonant energy, lively but silky at the same time. The whole bunch and oak, almost invisible but structurally subtextural. Velvet and cherry through to the finish. With a seemingly endless line of flavour, 5 to 7 years in the cellar without too much trouble. PJ CHARTERIS

Moderately intense, fruit-focused pinot noir with blackberry, dark-fleshed plum, cassis, dark cherry and a dusting of spicy oak. Accessible wine that's easy to love. Very approachable now. BOB CAMPBELL, The Real Review

Very fine tannins with a lovely ripeness for the vintage and juicy, crunchy fruit character. Strawberry and light stem flavors. Polished tannins. Not the most complex wine, but yummy. Drink now. Screw cap. JAMES SUCKLING