Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2014
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James
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Robert
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Wilfred
Wong
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Enjoy with prosciutto on ciabatta bread or double cream cheese with walnuts.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
With plenty of rose-like perfumed aromas, this pinot is bursting with perfume, citrus peel, some sappy notes and attractive oak spices. Bright in the mouth and with tannins that are lithe and show plenty of flavor, elegance and balance.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple colored, the 2014 Pinot Noir has a very pretty, floral scented nose with notes of roses and violets over a core of cranberries, Bing cherries and pomegranate. Light to medium-bodied, the palate gives a wonderful intensity of perfumed red berries with just enough herbal and earthy lift, supported by finely grained tannins and harmonious acidity, finishing long. A great showing for Cloudy Bay!
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: One of the best reasons to buy Marlborough Pinot Noirs is this region's remarkable consistency. Not only are the wines quite excellent, one seldom has to guess at how well they will perform as a dinner partner. TASTING NOTES: The 2014 Cloudy Bay shows classic ripe berry aromas that run from strawberries to blackberries. The wine's palate is firm, yet smooth and well-textured. Pair this wine with a rosemary-spiked leg of lamb and all will be good. (Tasted: February 7, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Cloudy Bay Vineyards, established in 1985, is today a partnership between champagne house Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin and co-founder of Cape Mentelle Vineyards in Western Australia, David Hohnen. The Cloudy Bay team is committed to producing 'wines of region' and strives to enhance the pure, bracing flavors naturally afforded by the climate and soils of Marlborough. The winery and vineyards are situated in the Wairau Valley in Marlborough at the northern end of New Zealand's South Island. This unique and cool wine region enjoys a maritime climate with the longest hours of sunshine of any place in New Zealand. Cloudy Bay has estate vineyards located at prime sites within the Wairau Valley and long-term supply agreements with five Wairau Valley growers. The main varieties grown are Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
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.