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Earth Smoke Pinot Noir, Pyramid Valley Vineyards 2020

RegionNew Zealand
Subregion New Zealand > Canterbury
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyPinot Noir

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Label

Tasting Notes

Rosehips, wild strawberries, rosemary, oyster shells, peppercorns, violets and thyme on the nose. Wonderfully fragrant and expressive, with tight tannins and vibrant acidity. Delicious peppery, lightly stemmy notes. Lots of tension. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

95
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, November 2022

Deeper, more earthy, more savoury than the Angel Flower. Smells richer and riper. More grip, too. More muscular but still has an echo of the light, lifted floral, ethereal character of Angel Flower and opens to a floral cloud that hangs over the wine. And it has the same stony/dusty aftertaste of the finest tannin texture. Great freshness though this isn't really what you notice because the wine is such a complete whole.

18
Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com, January 2023

Sitting beside Lion’s Tooth and picked a week to ten days later, this is imperceptibly richer and a tone or two darker than Angel Flower. With a more elemental stance on the palate, again, the name of the wine is truly evocative of its flavour. That it is named after a weed found growing wild in the vineyard is borderline unbelievable, but it’s true. In the same way that Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay was tougher and more unyielding than Field of Fire, Earth Smoke is the more belligerent and belligerent of the Pinot pair. Backward and this time more akin to a brooding, square-cut Morey-Saint-Denis, this wine needs ages but will be utterly astonishing when it finally falls into equilibrium.

19+
Matthew Jukes, MatthewJukes.com, November 2022
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.