2020 Escarpment Pinot Noir Kiwa Magnum 1.5L, Martinborough

From 33-year-old vines that promote density and consistency. A bright, vibrant wine with black-fleshed plum, cherry, raspberry and five-spice with an appealing savoury and fresh herb edge. Drink to 2035.

96 points Bob Campbell for The Real Review, March 2022

A tightly-wound, stemmy and savory pinot with aromas of moss, charred bark, grilled herbs, spiced cherries, balsamic and rosemary stems. There's lots of tension here with tight, firm tannins providing a firm yet fine and subtle backbone. Beautiful structure and focus.

95 points James Suckling, September 2022

The elegant, silky, mid-weight 2020 Pinot Noir Kiwa doesn’t need to shout to get your attention. Alongside the plum skin and cherry fruit, there’s a distinctive herbal and floral perfume, no doubt enhanced by 50% whole bunch, which also contributes to the structured frame of firm, grippy tannins. This shows excellent concentration and depth of fruit that lightly caresses the mid-palate. The conclusion is long, offering damsons, black tea and baking spices; the tannins are both firm and abundant and need time to soften in bottle. Drink to 2033.

92 points Rebecca Gibb for Vinous, April 2022

The Kiwa vineyard is one of the oldest in Martinborough, with the deep alluvial gravels the region is known for. It is planted to Pinot Noir clones UCD 5 and 6, which the combination of which tends to give complex, savoury and spicy wines.

The 2020 fruit was 50/50 destemmed and kept as whole bunches, fermented with indigenous yeast and hand plunged once a day for soft extraction. The wine was pressed after 22 days and matured for sixteen months in French oak barriques of which 31% were new, before the racked parcels were blended in preparation for bottling which took place without fining or filtration.

About this producer

Escarpment has been creating an expression of Martinborough through Burgundian grape varieties for 35 years. The 24-hectare home vineyard on the regions deep alluvial loams is located minutes from the village, and is the primary source of fruit, supplemented by the produce of select neighbours. The vineyard work is supervised by Rowan Hoskins, while winemaker Tim Bourne has been guiding things back at the winery following Larry McKenna’s retirement after the 2022 harvest.