Anthem Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023

2023 Anthem Vineyard Pinot Noir Blank Canvas Wine Central Otago NZ

$75.00 NZD

PDF Tasting Sheet

Vineyard: Anthem Vineyard
Subregion: Gibbston Valley
Region: Central Otago
Vintage: 2023
Soil Type: Schist derived, windblown alluvial loess
Viticulture: Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand Certified (SWNZ)
Manager: Jase Thomson

Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand Certified (SWNZ)

Growing up amid Central Otago’s dramatic slopes, we always imagined a Pinot Noir that spoke with that region’s cool-climate clarity; Anthem Vineyard in Gibbston delivers exactly that. This traditionally cooler subregion delivers a Pinot of luminous clarity: bright morello cherry and wild strawberry sit at the core, lifted by violet perfume and a thread of spicy red berry; beneath this sits a sappy, umami savouriness that adds drive and complexity. Wild fermentation, whole-cluster inclusion and a low-toast oak regime gives elegance, complexity and structure to the wine. It’s everything we adore about Pinot Noir - perfume, savoury complexity and boundless energy and freshness.

We hand-picked a small parcel of the Anthem Vineyard, ‘Cliff Block’, into fruit trays delivering them overnight to our winery in Marlborough. We left 50% of the fruit in whole clusters and crushed the balance into an open-top fermenter. It underwent a 6-day cold soak before naturally kicking off fermentation. Hand-plunging during the 15-day fermentation period was followed by draining the free-run wine and pressing the remaining wine all to French oak barriques (35% new) where it matured for 11 months, undergoing natural malolactic fermentation. It was racked to one tank to gently settle for 3 months and gently racked again, finally being bottled without fining or filtration on 15th June 2022.

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Reviews

5 STARS

" Enticingly perfumed, the 2023 vintage (*****) is a single-vineyard red, hand-picked at Gibbston from 23-year-old vines, barrel-aged, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Full, bright ruby, it isi ntensely varietal, with a lovely array of cherry, spice, herb and nut flavours, woven with fresh acidity, supple tannins and a savoury, complex, lingering finish. A delicious, very harmonious and silky-textured wine, it's already drinking well, but ageworthy too.' "

- Michael Cooper MA ONZM

95 Points

"Fruit is from Anthem vineyard in Gibbston Valley, a steep gorge along Central Otago’s Kawarau River. Vine age dates back to 2001. 60% whole bunches pressed to French oak barrels (35% new). Fruit from Gibbston has the ability to suck up new oak like a sponge, evident here in the intensity of pomegranate, fig and blood plum. Tannins are assertive, lifting and carrying the fine acidity and drawing the wine into linear lines. This will have you making a smacking sound with your lips, such is the grip and succulence. Nutmeg and cinnamon just round out the final notes. Nothing but class."

- Shanteh Wale

95 Points

"Mellow, complex pinot noir with layers of floral/violet, dried herb and savoury flavours that linger long after the wine has been swallowed. Delicious wine that achieves a perfect balance of subtle sweetness and mellow tannins."

- Bob Campbell MW

94 Points

"A fine wine with velvet tannins and a backbone of acidity, a delicious core of ripe red berry fruit flavours, plum and blackcurrant, sweet red cherry and layers of wood spice and a fine smoky wood quality. A wine that also has an earth-smoke quality with suggestions of clay and fine stone then dried herb and a savoury bay leaf quality. Delicious, fresh, balanced and well made. A wine that will continue to develop eccentricities and settle into its style. Best drinking from late 2026 through 2032."

- Cameron Douglas MS

93 Points

"The 2023 Anthem Pinot Noir is supple and lacy, detailed and fine. There are notes of cherry, strawberry, star anise, pink peppercorn and a hint of tapenade to close. This is a lighter-framed, very pretty wine, with good length through the finish. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap."

- Erin Larkin | Wine Advocate

93 Points

"Displaying the classic Gibbston high volume and lifted floral perfume, redolent in raspberry, cherry, violets and subtle wild thyme. The palate is similarly saturated with ripe red fruits, blackberries, dried herbs and forest floor, with fine structure and delicate though slightly chewy tannins, driven by the use of 50% of whole bunch. Long, savoury finish. Anthem Vineyard has some of the oldest vines in Gibbston."

- Emma Jenkins MW | Decanter

93 Points

"A textural, driven and stony pinot noir showing aromas of redberries, cherries, warm spices and some crushed stones. Medium-bodied with fine tannins and fresh acidity. Vivid and silky, with a floral lift in the finish. Sustainable. Unfiltered. Drink or hold. Screw cap."

- James Suckling

93 Points

"Bright ruby. Open knit and expressive flavours of boysenberry ice-cream with the generously ripe coulis of fruit wrapped in fragrant wild thyme, spicy clove and sweet cinnamon oak. The mid-weight flavours have a beguiling creamy sweetness which gives way to chewy, fine-grained tannins and long, tangy acidity. A very accessible and crowd-pleasing style which is hard to resist right now but which will move past its flamboyant stage with time in bottle, allowing more savoury and spicy complexity to emerge."

- Stephen Wong MW

18.5 Points

"Central Otago shines in this paradoxically lightly fragranced, full bodied and deeply rich tasting Pinot Noir. The Anthem Vineyard expresses a testament to meticulous viticulture in this smooth, seductive wine, driven by bold acidity framing a plush, fruit-forward palate with black cherry and red plum aromas intertwining with darker, brooding undertones. This is drinking superbly now and has at least another five to six years up of evolution up its sleeve."