2021 Hawkshead Reserve Pinot Noir
Regular price $69.50
Unit price per
The Hawkshead Pinot Noir ‘Reserve’ is a new addition to our portfolio of wines and an exclusive blend of fruit from the Lowburn & Gibbston sub-regions.
The wine is medium-bodied and of excellent concentration. Elegant finesse leads to a soft palate, and delicious impressions of brooding dark fruits emerge; plums, Sanguine peaches and ripe cherries. Those flavours are in harmony with lingering dried herbs and a sprinkle of black pepper. Add a memory of dark chocolate, and you will approach Pinot Noir haven.
Refined acidity and integrated velvety tannins lead to a long, harmonious finish. This astounding blend of rounder ripe Lowburn and more savoury slower ripening Gibbston fruit is a classic Central Otago Premium Pinot Noir and will cellar exceptionally well.
Reviews
Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, The Real Review
94/100 Silver Medal, Ranked: #7 of 26 2021 Pinot Noir from Central Otago
Blending slightly edgy cool-climate pinot noir from Gibbston with lusher, fruitier wine from Lowburn and the result can be better than either of the two parts.
It’s a moderately intense pinot noir with plum, cherry, fresh herbs, spice and nutty oak flavours supported by fine tannins that give structure and promise longevity. A compatible blend of two quite different subregions.
Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier
94/100, Excellent
Fragrant, varietal, a core of fruit and sense of place with a mineral quality. Aromas of roses and sweet red cherry fruits, raspberry flesh and a soft savoury quality. The oak is new, sweet, spicy and adds complexity as well as a youthful energy. Plenty of flavour and texture on the palate, this tautly textured wine is full of fruit flavours, flowers and mineral qualities. The oak is the same and will all the elements vying for attention, all this wine needs is time. Delicious, fresh, lengthy. Best drinking from 2024 through 2030+.
Candice Chow, Raymond Chan Wine Reviews
18.5/20pts, (93pts) Gold Medal, Perfect to Outstanding
Deep crimson, lighter on the rim. This has a broody, dark aromatic bouquet, nuances of cherries, raspberries entwined with a hint of savoury earth, dark herb and floral, followed by youthful oak details penetrating vanilla, cinnamon. Medium-full bodied, cherries, raspberries formed a vibrant core, savoury earth, thyme and floral enriched by barrel spice, toasty oak elements. The mouthfeel is rich with a grip of fine-grained tannin extraction, youthful in appearance. Lively acidity lengthens and lightens the structure. This is a structured Pinot Noir with red fruit, savoury details and a fine-grained tannin grip in its youth, will be rewarded with another 2-3 years in bottle. Match with roasted lamb and hare over the next 8 years. Handpicked fruit from Lowburn and Gibbston, destemmed, fermented to 13% alc, and aged in French oak barrels. 18.5/20 pts (93 pts) Apr 2022
Michael Cooper, New Zealand Wines
Michael Cooper’s Buyers Guide
Outstanding quality (gold medal standard)
The classy 2021 vintage (5*), a blend of "rounder, ripe" Lowburn and "more savoury, slower-ripening" Gibbston grapes, was hand-picked and matured in French oak barrels. Deep, bright ruby, it is a very age-worthy red, vigorous, mouth-filling and concentrated. Elegant and strongly varietal, it has strong cherry, plum and spice flavours, complex and savoury, supple tannins and a finely structured finish. Best drinking 2024+
96/ 100 Exceptional quality exhibiting the highest level of concentration and complexity.
Gorgeously ripe and seductively complex, the wine shows sweet plum, spiced cherry, olive, cedar and rich floral aromas. The concentrated palate is graceful and flowing seamlessly to a persistent velvety finish. Wonderfully composed and stylish exhibiting multi-layered mouthfeel and finely integrated tannins. At its best: 2023 to 2033.