Craggy Range Aroha Te Muna 2020

This is a very stylish, plump and fleshy pinot that has a sweetly spicy, floral and fragrant nose with ripe red and dark cherries, as well as sappy, forest leaves and gentle, earthy tones. Complex, young and fresh. The palate has such supple and sappy cherries and blueberries with a fresh, tangy line of acidity and a long, polished finish. Impressive. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

• Review Date: November 2021

One of two Craggy Range wines to join the Place de Bordeaux this year, the Pinot Noir-based Aroha alongside the Syrah-based Le Sol. Such a gorgeous perfumed fragrance on the nose; a wild flower garden, roses, violets, grass, juniper berry. So joyful on the palate, scented and fragrant, expressive but light and gentle, so graceful on the palate with a seriously juicy core that just gives lift to the whole palate. Focussed and direct, it's not weighty but delivers in a straight line of flavour with the aroma giving the expansiveness. Piercing yet airy, sweet cherry flavours dominate in terms of fruit with a touch of plum and hint of wild stewed strawberry with tiny hints of spice. Distinctly Pinot Noir and yet not at all Burgundian, a beautiful different expression. Leaves a lifted and lingering impression - this wine will put a smile on your face.

• Drinking Window: 2022 - 2030
• Reviewer Name: Georgina Hindle
• Review Date: August 2022

Smells so good, these are aromatics that you want to dive into. Beautifully sculpted, with waves of redcurrant, blueberry, peach blossom, lemongrass and gunsoke that roll around the palate, the definition of retro-olfaction. So gulpable, and full of generous but delicate Pinot Noir chracter. The name, by the way, means love in the Maori language. Harvest March 20, after a great vintage in New Zealand, up there with the excellent 2019. 70% whole bunch. 34% new oak.

• Drinking Window: 2022 - 2026
• Reviewer Name: Jane Anson
• Review Date: July 2022

The 2020 Pinot Noir Aroha Te Muna Road Vineyard is a serene, mouthcoating style that soothes your palate and could be served to the sound of pan pipes. It conveys a sense of rich, unadulterated fruit and broadens in the mouth before the combination of acidity and drawn-out gravelly tannins pulls the wine together, lending purpose and freshness. Expect strawberry fruit alongside lifted herbal and violet tones (courtesy of a whopping 70% whole bunch – this was a ripe vintage, and winemaker Grounds felt it needed this for moreishness). Wild-fermented in French oak barrels and matured over 14 months before bottling, the oak is well integrated, supporting discreetly rather than standing out. Note that this is the first time Aroha has been made without any Abel clone fruit, because there was rain when it was ripening and Grounds felt it lacked the “excitement” to go in the blend.

• Drinking Window: 2022 - 2032
• Reviewer Name: Rebecca Gibb MW
• Review Date: January 2022