Te Muna Valley 'James' Pinot Noir 2015

18 months’ barrel maturation, approximately 40% new French oak.

ABOUT THE PRODUCER:

Because Martinborough is on a similar latitude to Burgundy, our Pinot Noir is very much Burgundy influenced, that is, light and not as heavily fruit driven as most Martinborough Pinots. Our “Falcon” Pinot is entry level, ready for drinking immediately and an easy red. “The Hawk”, a very popular wine is our next level Pinot, suitable for drinking now or cellaring, while the “James” is more complex and blended with cellaring in mind.

In 2009 a barge trip from Auxerre to Clamey on the Canal du Nivernais in Burgundy prompted us to add plantings of Chardonnay to the property, after we consumed some spectacular wines – Pouilly-Fuissé, Macon-Villages, Chablis 1er Cru ‘Les Beauroys’ among others. These soft, light, and famous Mâconnais almondy Chardonnays inspired us to come home plant some rows of Burgundy clone Chardonnay. We also removed a section of Pinot Noir on the eastern side of the house and in 2012 built a large, state-of-the-art winery.

Simon Groves, of Martinborough, took over the winemaking in the new winery. With extensive and impressive experience both in New Zealand and internationally (read about Simon here on his website) Simon had similar ideas to us about the style of wines we wanted.

Now each grape variety’s different clone is picked as it ripens, then brought a few metres to the winery to be processed, fermented, and ultimately blending will take place. Having our own winery has given the wines a greater degree of sophistication.

In 2013, to celebrate our first vintage from the new winery we changed our label to Te Muna Valley™ and today the variety of wines going out the cellar door has increased substantially. To read more about the different wines go to Reviews Page and our online store.

But it’s not all pruning, mulching, picking, blending, tasting and spitting. We live and love here. We have a large garden and a growing menagerie consisting of two Labradors – Whetu and Elsa; two cats – Scaredy Kat and Muna; a pampered geriatric retired horse – Flick; a pair of Swedish Blue ducks, far too many bantams with roosters and from time to time, free-range pigs for home consumption