Ata Rangi McCrone Pinot Noir 2020

97 POINTS

James Suckling

A lovely nose of sliced strawberry, grated nutmeg, suede and rose. Negroni. Orange. Medium- to full-bodied with silky, fine tannins. Nuanced and concentrated with an array of subtle spice and herbs decorating the beautifully fresh red berries. Spice. Iron. Rust. Savory undertones provide depth and complexity on the palate and evolve and oscillate as time goes on. Open grain tannins at the end. New single vineyard bottling. Sustainable. Best after 2025.

97 POINTS

Christina Pickard - Wine Enthusiast

The McCrone Vineyard, with is combo of clay and alluvial gravel soils, brings distinct personality and minerality to this beautifully expressive wine. It starts with a heady nose you could fall straight into. Dried spices and herbs, vanilla pod, tree bark and cracked black pepper are in the fore, weaving through cherry, redcurrant cordial and orange rind. There's an ethereal lightness to the palate, but a tight structure to the fine tannins. Silky, freshly fruity and spicy, it's elegant, approachable and ageworthy.

94 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

A hotter site, per se. Clay soils. Certified organic site. Around 40% whole bunch, which seems to be a major part of the identity of the wine, showing more here. Very floral perfume, violets, rose petal, lots of raspberry and sweeter fruit and spice characters to sniff on. Juicy and bright in the palate, fresh-feeling and loaded with primary fruit, albeit gossamer textured, glossy and vibrant too. Tannins squeaky, bouncy, crisp in a way. Fine and frisky expression.

94 POINTS

Mike Bennie - Halliday Wine Companion

Quite a lusty, toasty, spicy, rich pinot noir but, of course, with the requisite grace of the Ata Rangi stable. Scents and flavours of cinnamon buns, clove, bergamot tea, kirsch and maraschino, blackcurrant and mocha. The synergy between bouquet and palate appreciated. Tannins are quite round and firm, a bold strike through the wine and finishing it dusty and lightly chewy. It feels best approached in a few years and with cellar time.

93 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2020 McCrone Vineyard Pinot Noir is great. This leads with salted tomato, cherry and caper brine. This is mineral as hell, tight, expansive and spicy and gray in color spectrum; it's not all ribald cherry/berry fruit. There is drama here—floral and rocky with ferruginous tannins. I like it. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Forty percent is whole cluster in the ferment, matured in barrique (25% new). The McCrone Vineyard is clay and gravels and is about 600 meters from the winery. It holds moisture but ripens earlier than the Masters (another clay site).

92 POINTS

Emma Jenkins MW - Decanter

A touch paler than the Masters and Kotinga, this has a perfumed, pretty nose with lovely orange blossom notes. The palate is fine and silky, but its ripe fruited core has a distinct savoury edge and it’s more structured than the nose would lead one to believe. Tannins are quite sappy and need a touch more resolution – the whole bunch (40%) looks a bit more obvious in this wine than the other 2020s.