Colour

Deep, ruby with excellent clarity.

Aroma

The nose begins like a stroll through a spice market — the aromatics span the five pillars of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami through the familiar notes of Chinese five spice (fennel, cinnamon, star anise etc). Beneath the exotic spice is a core of sweet cherry fruit, with even a suggestion of orange peel as in a well-made Negroni. A delicate dried herbal note of whole bunches rounds things out, with a note of crushed raspberry.

Ageing Potential

Expressive and complex enough to savour upon release, there is no  hurry with this wine, which will be even better in 2031 than it was in 2021. Look no further than Peking duck for the ultimate match, but it has the substance to stand up to even the most robust red meat dishes and flavoursome hard cheeses.
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Palate

Silky and supple in the mouth, with a serious backbone of fine tannins of both the grape and oak variety adding complexity of texture and a framework on which to age. Dry to taste, it is abundantly fruited as the Hua Nui name suggests, but also classically styled to appeal to the Burgundy purists and collectors. An impressive wine in both proportion and style, it lingers long with layers of flavour continuing to unfurl.

Winemaking

Crafted from six handpicked pinot noir clones planted in 1998 — Abel, 667, 777, 115, 114 and 10/5. We handpick each level of the terrace and clones separately to capture and learn about the uniqueness of each parcel. They all start their life in their own fermenter, with natural fermentation from wild yeasts. A combination of gently pumping juice over the bunches and hand plunging take us through the fermentation process. The whole bunch portion is 5%

The wine is pressed off into its own set of French oak barrels selected to enhance its unique characters and aged for 12 months.

Winemaker

Guy McMaster

Technical Details

Picking Date: March 2019
Alcohol: 13.0%
Bottled: March 2020