Six 94/100 top-ranked Crimson Pinot Noir 2018 from Ata Rangi, one of the favourite wineries of New Zealand's famous Martinborough wine-growing region.

94/100 Bob Campbell
94/100 Sam Kim
93/100 Nick Stock
91/100 Wine Enthusiast
94/100 Sam Kim (2017 Vintage)
93/100 Nick Stock (2017 Vintage)
93/100 Jamie Goode (2017 Vintage)
93/100 Bob Campbell (2016 vintage)

Organic

Bob Campbell "Aromatic pinot noir with an appealing mix of cherry, plum, mint, dried herbs, and spicy and stemmy flavours. A supple, attractive wine that’s perhaps not as concentrated as its distinguished stable mate, but represents excellent value at this price. A wine of character and class."

Nick Stock "There’s so much to this wine. It is a pinot that really speaks of quality tannin, fresh and quite concentrated fruit flavors and a layered, succulent, fleshy and rich, dark-cherry finish. One of the best value wines on the planet, hands down!"

Sam Kim "It’s beautifully ripe and fragrant on the nose showing sweet cherry, plum, thyme and toasted nut characters, followed by a succulent palate that’s fleshy and beautifully flowing. It’s fabulously polished and harmonious, offering delectable fruit flavours with elegant spicy complexity."

Nick Stock "This delivers pristine red florals, lightly peppery notes and an array of beautifully pure, deep red-cherry aromas, as well as spiced pastry notes. The palate has lively, luscious and vibrant red-cherry flavors, framed in fine, crisp tannins. Exceptional value." (2017 Vintage)

Jamie Goode "Juicy, sappy and quite tight with some reductive hints. The cool vintage has given some keen acidity with perfumed, herbal aromatics, bright raspberry fruit with a bit of grip. Sappy, fresh and structured with good acidity. This has an acid frame and it’s delicious, with a peppercorn." (2017 Vintage)

Sam Kim "Delightfully fruited and elegantly fragrant, the bouquet shows red cherry, cranberry, floral and almond characters with nuances of dried herb and anise. The palate delivers juicy fruit intensity and rounded mouthfeel, wonderfully complemented by fine texture and polished tannins. The wine offers pristine fruit flavours with delicate spicy undertones, making it fabulous drinking." (2017 Vintage)

Decanter Magazine "Crimson is supposedly the wine to introduce you to its bigger Ata Rangi estate Pinot. But perversely, you need all of the Pinot knowledge in the world to understand just how special Crimson is." (2016 Vintage)

Julia Harding ~ Master of Wine "....This seems very Martinborough to me - refined and savoury character to the dark-red fruits.....Young vines, shorter vatting time and less oak. There's a dry, smoky and savoury quality to this even though the juicy fresh fruit is a little more to the fore than on the straight Pinot Noir." (2016 Vintage)

Matthew Jukes "This stunning estate makes the most revered Pinot Noir in New Zealand"

Lisa Perrotti-Brown eRobertParker.com "Their Pinots have always been great and yet, even in a world where the Pinot benchmark gets higher every year, Ata Rangi is better than ever."

Ata Rangi, meaning "dawn sky" or "new beginning" is a small New Zealand winery with a big reputation for serious Pinot Noir. Located at the southern end of the North Island, it is owned and managed by a family trio - Clive Paton, his wife Phyll and his sister Alison.

Clive planted his first vines on a small, stony sheep paddock at the edge of the Martinborough village in 1980 as one of a handful of people who pioneered winegrowing in the area.

Crimson is a wine which was inspired by a love of New Zealand’s native ‘Christmas Trees’ the rata and pohutukawa trees. Sales of this wine support Project Crimson, a charitable conservation trust which plants and protects these trees. The Pinot Noir grapes for Crimson are produced from 10-20 year old Martinborough vines in Lismore, Waiora and Walnut Ridge blocks.The grapes were hand picked and 100% destemmed, keeping as much whole berry fruit as possible.

After four years of transition, Ata Rangi were certified in 2014 as fully organic.

Pinot Noir is the dominant red wine grape of Burgundy, now produced in wine regions all over the world, including western Germany, northern Italy, Chile, South Africa, Australia and, perhaps most notably, California, Oregon and New Zealand. The essence of Pinot Noir wine is its aroma of strawberry and cherry (fresh red cherries in lighter wines and stewed black cherries in weightier examples), underpinned in the most complex examples by hints of forest floor. Well-built Pinot Noirs, particularly from warmer harvests, also exhibit notes of leather and violets, sometimes approaching the flavor spectrum of Syrah.