B-21 Top Recommendation
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From an outstanding growing season yielding New Zealand’s “vintage of the century” according to James Suckling, the fresh and refined 2020 Rippon Pinot Noir Mature Vines is an enticing, small production gem offering earthy, seductive red fruit shimmering with bright acidity and finishing with firm, mouth coating tannins, masterfully crafted by talented winemaker Nick Rolfe from old vine fruit for collectors and lovers of the world’s best Pinot Noirs to enjoy over the next decade.
Overlooking the turquoise waters of glacier fed Lake Tanaka framed by stunning vertical cliffs, Rippon’s sloping 15 hectares of vines on New Zealand’s mountainous South Island are among the world’s most photographed vineyards, producing equally impressive award-winning Pinot Noirs that rank it among “New Zealand’s most celebrated wineries” according to the Wine Enthusiast’s Christine Packard. Among the first to cultivate wine grapes in Central Otago, Nick’s father Rolfe Mills was serving in World War II when he recognized the similarity of the schist soil slopes of Portugal’s Douro Valley to those back in Wanaka and returned to his family’s lakeside farm decades later to experiment with different varietals before founding his winery in 1982. After training at some of Burgundy’s most iconic estates including Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron, Nick took the reins of his family’s winery in 2003, converting the vineyards to biodynamic viticulture, fermenting the hand harvested grapes parcel by parcel with indigenous yeasts and bottling without filtering or fining. Located in a protected area where the indigenous Maori came for a “place of rest,” Rippon’s 40 plus year old own rooted Pinot Noir vines are planted in a mix of schist with clay and loam at an altitude of 380 meters above sea level without irrigation, the vineyard’s proximity to the lake creating a microclimate that shields the vines from the South Island’s harsh winter temperatures. Maturing over two winters in barrel, the richly concentrated 2020 Rippon Pinot Noir Mature Vines was aged in 15% to 20% new in the first winter and completely neutral oak in the second winter before bottling without filtering or fining and spending two years longer in the cellar prior to release, yielding a harmonious, mineral-nuanced Pinot Noir promising to mature gracefully over the next decade and offering “a tantalizing glimpse of what New Zealand Pinot Noir can achieve with mature vines” according to Vinous critic Neal Martin.
From a standard bearer of the region reflecting the very essence of its pristine Central Otago terroir, the remarkably elegant 2020 Rippon Pinot Noir Mature Vines ranks among the world’s most complex and cellar-worthy old vine Pinot Noir cuvees, an under the radar beauty delivering exceptional value and promising Pinot lovers a thrilling evolution ahead. | 
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