Pinot Noir thrives throughout the favourable precincts of Marlborough, where Cloudy Bay have planted the best clones on the choicest sites, to realize harvests of the finest fruit. Crop levels are carefully controlled to ensure the grapes are brimming wth great concentration of flavour, selectively picked and treated to a regimen of old fashioned, tried and true, minimalist vinification techniques. Cloudy Bay are always richly layered with complexity, fruit driven yet exquisitely dry, finely structured and supported by ripe, licorice textured tannins.

Central Otago's seminal winemaking estate, Chard Farm's magnificent storage cellar employs the old world technique of sitting barrels on bare earth pits that have been filled with gravel. This lets the cellar breath but more importantly keeps the humidity high, thereby preventing a lot of wine evaporation, known to those who are well abreast of things wine as the angels share. This is particularly important in the naturally low humidity climes of Central Otago.

From deciding which rows to pick on what day, right through to the ferments, pressing and aging in oak, Catalina Sounds are meticulous in their pursuit of an exuberantly wild fermented, complex and structured wine. All the while keeping in mind that minimal intervention is the best approach to handling the noble but capricious Pinot Noir. Sounds of White demands Leading with its ripe red nose of forest berries, raspberry and cola notes, her palate is silken and elegant, such powerful fruit notes, all framed by ripe tannins and flattering oak, resolving on a long, technicolor, peacock tail finish.

Catalina Sounds prefer to allow Pinot Noir to express itself, for a wine that's structured and elegant, approachable and food friendly. Working to principles of sustainable land management and good governance of the environment, Pinot Noir grapes are de-stemmed into a mix of open fermenters and French oak to create an interesting, more savoury style. Strawberries, nutmeg and white pepper florals, lovely Pinot flavours of sour cherry and spice over a length of velvet tannins. Fresh and vibrant, the perfect food lovers Pinot, ideally alongside rillettes of duck or game bird cassoulet.

An assemblage of Pinot Noir from Brancott's Marlborough growers with a conspicuous component of fruit harvested off good vineyards in Wairau Valley. The alluvial soils of Marlborough produce fine aromatic wines with balanced, natural acidity. A dominance of classic varietal fruit characters, cherries, rhubarb and strawberry are all supported by hints of oaken spice and a fine velvet tannin structure, enhanced by the clonal complexity and expression of terroir.

A single magnificent parcel of Pinot Noir vines, planted to the gravelly Lochar soils of a rocky knoll on Amisfield Block in Central Otago 1. The parched plantings send their roots deep into the inhospitable terrains, struggling for water and yielding meagre harvests of the most intensely flavoured fruit.

Hand picked fruit and a measure of whole bunch clusters, barely crushed and cold soaked for a wild indigenous yeast ferment, gently plunged and delicately pumped over, to extract gross solids while preserving textural integrity, followed by an extended soak up of optimal tannins and ten months maturation in good French oak. Youthful aromatic expressions of sweet red cherries, mulberries and plum, a fully complex and lingering palate, the oak is light and subtle to complement the fine grained tannins, juicy winegum flavours and savoury, morello acidity.