Strong typical Pinot Noir characters are the distinguishing features of this wine, together with the balance of flavour. Made from just one small portion of Pinot grapes that are carefully spur pruned in winter, then meticulously looked after over the summer to eventually be handed from the vineyard team to the winemaking team to carry on the intense care and attention to detail that is needed to make the best Pinot Noir.
The favourite wine of our winemakers to make as it really extends all of their skills from working with the small open-top fermentation tanks, which allow for constant hand plunging of the grape skins ( a small wooden plunger constantly pushes the skins below the surface of the juice) to selecting a variety of different French oak barrels that the wine will mature in for more than twelve months. The real skill is in the blending, as not all the barrels will make the grade for our top Pinot Noir. Days are spent tasting and re-tasting barrels and blends looking for the elusive blend that conveys the smooth velvet texture of Pinot Noir.
14.5%
Best enjoyed with a leg of lamb on a Sunday with the family.
Tasting Notes
This Pinot Gris is filled with great fruit intensity of ginger spice and pear drop aromas, beautifully balanced with a smooth juicy finish. A wine to be enjoyed on any occasion.
Winemakers Notes
Following harvest the fruit was fermented in batches using a number of fermentation techniques, including barrel fermentation (10%), on skins fermentation (90%), and lees aging for five months. The resulting blend of these techniques has resulted in a rich and complex Pinot Gris with concentration and balance.
Alcohol %
13.5%
Food Matching
Chicken Tikka Masala or sticky sesame prawns with a spicy sauce.
Sherwood Estate Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
A juicy Pinot Noir with rich ripe fruit flavours of plum and blackberries. Subtle oak complexities lead to a beautifully rounded palate with a silky smooth finish. This Pinot Noir is so versatile with food, it pairs well with BBQ,'s and salads to comforting winter style dishes. A secret favorite, a seafood pasta.
Most of the blend is tipped into open-top fermentation tanks for preferment soak prior to the fermentation starting naturally with indigenous yeast, another portion is tank fermented with pump over, then a very small portion is kept as whole berries and sealed for carbonic maceration fermentation. Once the fermentations have finished, a partial micro-oxygenation is started which helps the wine to remain softer and rounder earlier.
13%
Summer BBQ’s, salads and fresh seafood pasta.
Sherwood Estate Riesling is made from 100 percent Riesling.
A Riesling that captures the true essence of a Waipara Valley aromatic wine. Full flavoured with delicate fruit and floral elements balanced with a smooth mouthfeel and subtle sweetness.
Grown on our Waipara Valley vineyards the grapes were harvested over a period of two weeks at varying degrees of ripeness allowing for a range of fruit flavours and complexity. This shows in the final wine with great depth of flavour throughout the palate with well-balanced acidity leaving you wanting more.
12%
Fresh seafood, cheese dishes and spicy food.
Sherwood Estate Riesling is made from 100 percent Riesling.
A Riesling that captures the true essence of a Waipara Valley aromatic wine. Full flavoured with delicate fruit and floral elements balanced with a smooth mouthfeel and subtle sweetness.
Grown on our Waipara Valley vineyards the grapes were harvested over a period of two weeks at varying degrees of ripeness allowing for a range of fruit flavours and complexity. This shows in the final wine with great depth of flavour throughout the palate with well-balanced acidity leaving you wanting more.
12%
Fresh seafood, cheese dishes and spicy food.
Sherwood Estate Sauvignon Blanc is made from 100 percent Sauvignon Blanc.
A fresh and zesty Sauvignon Blanc, bursting with juicy ripe flavours of gooseberry, guava and lime. The mouthwatering finish leaves you wanting more.
Only the most premium fruit was selected for this wine. Following harvest the fruit was gently pressed, allowed to settle and cool ferment for three weeks. Three months of lees contact has imparted a depth of fruit flavour. The parcels of wine were then blended before being lightly fined and filtered prior to bottling. The finished wine is delicate displaying fine fruit flavours and bright acidity.
13%
Herb crusted white fish, goat's cheese salad or fresh oysters.
Freemark Abbey Sycamore Cabernet Sauvignon is made from
Wine Profile: Opaque dark ruby describes the color of this Rutherford wine. Black currant and Boysenberry notes dominate the aroma, with dark chocolate truffle, cocoa powder, Worcestershire sauce, cremini mushrooms and forest floor adding to the complexity. The oak adds the ideal amount of complexity with aromatic cedar, cinnamon and clove. The wine has great depth of black fruit flavor, with a strong expression of sweet black cherry. This full-bodied cabernet sauvignon has resolved tannins yet firm structure, with good acidity. Lovely long finish!
Primary Vineyard: Sycamore Vineyard—Rutherford (100%): Small 24-acre vineyard located about 1.2 miles south of Bosche, right up against the Mayacamas Range, this vineyard has a rich clay loam. Sycamore Vineyard produces small berries reminiscent of mountain fruit berries, with intense extract of color and flavor. The color is very dark early in the fermentation, with flavors of black currant and black berry with a forest floor complexity.
Review:
From a vineyard closer to the Mayacamas Mountains and first made in 1980, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyards checks in as 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. It spent 27 months in 66% new French. It offers more black fruits, earth, tobacco, cedar, and gravelly minerality as well as a touch more burly, masculine style on the palate. Nevertheless, it's still beautifully balanced, has considerable elegance, and a great finish.
-Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyards gives up powerful crème de cassis, dark chocolate-covered cherries, mulberries and baked plums scents with hints of lavender, camphor, pencil shavings and dusty soil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with rich, black fruits plus a beautiful perfumed undercurrent, framed by finely grained tannins and lovely freshness, finishing with a mineral lift. 1,989 cases were made.
-Wine Advocate 95 Points
Herbal, with characteristics of peppercorn, cedar and pencil shavings, this beautiful wine is also dusty and mineral-driven, with demure flavors of red and black currant. Full bodied and well structured, it shows an underlying softness that should continue to soften in the cellar. Enjoy best from 2026–2031.
-Wine Enthusiast 95 Points
Boussey Aloxe Corton Les Valozieres is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
The Aloxe Corton appellation is located right between the Cotes de Nuits and Cotes de Beaune, at the bottom of the Hill of Corton. The old vines planted in the village of "Valozieres" enjoy a perfect location and a specific terroir made of red/brown colored soils with a few silica veins and silex, limestone components, leading to solid and structured wines.
The wine displays a dark ruby and garnet color. The aromas are classic of the appellation with small red fruits, developping peony, jasmine, leather, truffle aromas with age. A firm structure, rich and chewy tannins, and a great length.