Clos Henri Pinot Noir 2015
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Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
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Indisputably, the southern clays (also called the Southern Valleys) enables Marlborough to play amongst the finest Pinot Noir terroirs in the world. Pinot Noir fruit sourced from our Broadbridge clay typically reveal femininity through its lacy tannins and delicate fruit palette, while fruit from Wither Clay captivates your senses by its more masculine characters, dense structure and fine tannins. Clos Henri is the elegant and complete expression of the best of these two clay soils. Its great aging potential is the ultimate revelation of the terroirs’ potential.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This project, from the Loire Valley's Bourgeois family, has turned out a dark, concentrated 2015 Pinot Noir. It's oaky, with plenty of cedar and vanilla on the nose, but it backs that up with pretty cherry fruit and some savory, earthy notes. Unless you enjoy overt oak, I'd suggest cellaring this for a couple of years and then drinking it over the next decade.
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Wine Enthusiast
From the Loire-based Bourgeois family, this is a dense, brooding Pinot Noir sourced from clay soils. After some swirling in glass it begins to chime in notes of blueberries, red currents, violets and cinnamon bark, with whispers of undergrowth and wood spice. Energetic acidity is in sync with savory, smudgy tannins which provides tension and balance, while brambly, forest-floor flavors continue long into the finish. Drink now–2025.
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Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.