Bruce and Anna talk about Pinot Noir

An interview with Bruce Taylor, Chief Winemaker.

Describe the key characteristics of a Marlborough Pinot Noir

Our Marlborough pinot is from the sub region of the Awatere Valley, and typically shows dark fruits like cherries and plums with a bit of spice, sometimes a dried herb character from our higher altitude sites.

What do you love about Pinot Noir? What characteristics are you looking for when drinking a Pinot Noir?

I really love the complexity in top pinot noirs and in particular how they express their site so profoundly and distinctly. I think the unforgiving nature of the grape puts the wine always on a knifes edge for ripeness and this always seems to make them so much better when they work well!

What influences the type of Pinot Noir you craft for Tohu Wines?

The vineyards are the main influence on the resulting wines we make. In the winery we are very hands off so the wines really show their site and the season. Saying that we would all love to make great burgundy so that is always an inspiration to do better.

Favourite dish to pair with Pinot Noir?

A rack of merino lamb from the Awatere Valley is hard to beat on a cold winters night with snow on all the hills around us.

What type of oak barrels do you use for Tohu pinot noir?

We use all French coopers for our barrels, our pinot noirs are aged in 228 litre barriques with about 10-30% new dependent on what the season has given us. Most of our oak is from the higher elevation sites in France so is of a very tight grain and seasoned for 2 or 3 years.

An interview with Anna McCarty, Winemaker

Describe the key characteristics of a Marlborough Pinot Noir.

Pinot Noir is a variety particularly influenced by the climate and soil where it’s grown. Marlborough Pinots generally show raspberry, plum and cherry fruit flavours with balanced acidity and fine, integrated tannins. Looking sub-regionally, the Pinots from the cooler Awatere Valley are elegant wines with savoury, herbaceous notes, whereas wines grown on the clay soils in the Southern Valleys of the Wairau plains tend to show more bramble fruit with spice notes.

What do you love about Pinot Noir? What characteristics are you looking for when drinking a Pinot Noir?

I love that Pinot Noir can be wonderfully aromatic with amazing fruit concentration and complexity without being overbearing or heavy. I tend toward Pinots with earthy, savoury characteristics balanced with bright fruit and long, fine tannins.

What influences the type of Pinot Noir you craft for Tohu Wines?

Pinot Noir is by its very nature a finicky grape to grow and make wine from, and ultimately everything comes down to where and how the grapes are grown. If I try to work against the fruit and impart a particular ‘style’ into the wine, it’s generally going to create something that I feel looks awkward and clunky. So, I try to work with the site and the vintage to create a balanced wine that is truly a unique expression of that particular time and place.

Favourite dish to pair with Pinot Noir?

I love Pinot noir with anything with mushrooms. Both have wonderfully delicate aromas and flavours, and the earthiness of the mushrooms lets the fruit of the Pinot Noir shine. Some of my all-time favourites are woodfired pizza loaded with wild mushrooms or a creamy mushroom and thyme risotto.