Six 93/100 top-ranked Crimson Pinot Noir 2017 from Ata Rangi, one of the favourite wineries of New Zealand's famous Martinborough wine-growing region.

93/100 James Suckling
93/100 The Wine Front
91/100 Wine Enthusiast
90/100 The Wine Advocate
93/100 Bob Campbell (Vintage 2016)

Organic

James Suckling "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. Drink now. Screw cap."

The Wine Advocate "Slightly herbal and tomato-scented, the 2017 Crimson Pinot Noir still offers up enough sous-bois and cherry flavors to remain intriguing. A bit of bacon-tinged oak comes through on the medium-bodied palate, joining silky tannins on the finish. For a "second wine," this offers uncommon complexity, even if it doesn't show the concentration of Ata Rangi's top bottlings."

Matthew Jukes "This stunning estate makes the most revered Pinot Noir in New Zealand" (Vintage 2016)

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." (Vintage 2016)

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." (Vintage 2016)

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." (Vintage 2016)

Goeff Kelly "Ata Rangi is one of the founder vineyards, and arguably the most highly-regarded winery in the Martinborough (and Wairarapa district), perhaps because there have been no pompous claims about their wines – just constant, quiet attention to detail.” (Vintage 2016)

Lisa Perotti-Brown "…the long-serving, dedicated team behind Ata Rangi just go from strength to strength. 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.” (Vintage 2016)

Yvonne Lorkin “You’d be hard-pressed to find a list of ‘Best NZ Pinot Noir’ that does not feature Ata Rangi at the top of the list.” (Vintage 2016)

Huon Hooke "When Ata Rangi started making wine and wanted to get a few runs on the board, they entered some of their wines in competitions. Different vintages of Ata Rangi Pinot Noir won the IWSC London Trophy in 1995, 1996 and 2001. The ten vintages of Ata Rangi Pinot Noir from 1996 each won gold medals and netted a total of seven trophies. (Vintage 2016)

Ata Rangi no longer enters wine competitions, but the accolades continue. In 2010 Ata Rangi and Felton Road were both awarded the inaugural Tipuranga Teitei o Aotearoa or ‘Grand Cru of New Zealand’ by their peers. That’s a serious pat on the back.

Ata Rangi is a small, family-owned Martinborough winery with a big reputation, particularly for pinot noir. Their grape supply is from nearly 50 hectares of organically grown grapes from 14 small, close proximity vineyards on 30cm of shallow silt-loam on top of 25-metre deep alluvial gravels."

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 handpicked and 100% destemmed, keeping as much whole berry fruit as possible.

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