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Pyramid Valley Earth Smoke Pinot Noir 2022

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Pyramid Valley Earth Smoke Pinot Noir 2022
Producer Pyramid Valley
Region, Country Canterbury, New Zealand
Bottle Size 750ml
Case Size 6
Product Code 23788-750

Biodynamic. Like the Chardonnay vineyards, Pyramid Valley’s Waikari Pinot Noir sites were planted in 2000 at 11,111 vines per hectare on slopes with clay/limestone soils. Earth Smoke is an expansive slope that faces east and is situated southwest of Lion’s Tooth and north of its sibling Pinot Noir site, Angel Flower. The soils are richer than Angel Flower, described by Steve Smith as “strong and beautifully structured”―there’s a high proportion of clay (30%) over the limestone bedrock. The name comes from the nickname given to fumitory, a plant of the poppy family that thrives in this 0.85-hectare plot. Although both wines share DNA, the later-picked Earth Smoke is typically the more structured and darker of the two, with more fruit weight and savoury undertones to go with its tender, fine tannins. 

The fruit was picked and sorted by hand, then destemmed and fermented gently using infusion rather than extraction techniques. After 21 to 27 days on skins, the wine matured in French oak for 18 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. 

The combination of sunlight, high UV, moderate temperatures, and decent humidity is nirvana for temperate plants. Pyramid’s vines respond by harnessing all this energy to ripen grapes that are full of the delicate aromas, beautiful flavours and refined phenolics that are the benchmark for fine, cool-climate Pinot Noir (and often lost in warmer, more stressful climates). The 2022 Earth Smoke is resplendent with this energy and the unique stamp of its part of the Waikari vineyard. It’s a wine that screams of place, composed and pure, with elegant texture and expansive presence―just superb. 

Pyramid Valley Earth Smoke Pinot Noir 2022

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Reviews

“A crispness, a pulse of tart cherry, a crunch of cranberry, some nougat licks and woody spice with sappy pomegranate juice, a touch of hazelnut paste with bergamot tea, sage leaf and dried rosemary amongst the mix of characters here. It’s got volume of intense, granitic minerality and a grumbling swish of pumice-like, almost Italianate texture to tannins amongst the vibrancy of fruit character.”
95 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“Sourced from a 0.8ha block of biodynamically farmed pinot noir on the Pyramid Valley Waikari estate. A beautiful, complex-smelling wine with brooding dark plum and cherry fruits, cut with spice, blood orange, amaro herbs, raked leaves, pressed wildflowers, twiggy nuance and crushed stone. So calm and composed on the palate with a sapid calcareous cadence, fine, chalky tannin grip and a long, gamey retreat.”
96 points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
“Having made no Earth Smoke in 2021 due to spring frosts and cool flowering ravaging the yield, it's a welcome return in 2022. Translucent, pure and delicately textured, this Pinot Noir shows a fine hand and the confidence to be hands off. The wine is calm; in the mouth, it gives the impression that a hush has descended. It is attractively scented - full of dried herbs, cherry, festive spice, violets and a hint of smoke. There's plentiful concentration without weight. The tannins are pliant, providing the finest coating for your palate.”
95 points, Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous

Reviews

“A crispness, a pulse of tart cherry, a crunch of cranberry, some nougat licks and woody spice with sappy pomegranate juice, a touch of hazelnut paste with bergamot tea, sage leaf and dried rosemary amongst the mix of characters here. It’s got volume of intense, granitic minerality and a grumbling swish of pumice-like, almost Italianate texture to tannins amongst the vibrancy of fruit character.”
95 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“Sourced from a 0.8ha block of biodynamically farmed pinot noir on the Pyramid Valley Waikari estate. A beautiful, complex-smelling wine with brooding dark plum and cherry fruits, cut with spice, blood orange, amaro herbs, raked leaves, pressed wildflowers, twiggy nuance and crushed stone. So calm and composed on the palate with a sapid calcareous cadence, fine, chalky tannin grip and a long, gamey retreat.”
96 points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
“Having made no Earth Smoke in 2021 due to spring frosts and cool flowering ravaging the yield, it's a welcome return in 2022. Translucent, pure and delicately textured, this Pinot Noir shows a fine hand and the confidence to be hands off. The wine is calm; in the mouth, it gives the impression that a hush has descended. It is attractively scented - full of dried herbs, cherry, festive spice, violets and a hint of smoke. There's plentiful concentration without weight. The tannins are pliant, providing the finest coating for your palate.”
95 points, Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous

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