This annual Pinot Noir report was first published in Drinksbiz magazine, September/October 2025
Fresh from tasting long line ups of Pinot Noir for this story, judging at the New World Wine Awards and hosting a Burgundy tasting, it is easy to see why Pinot Noir in New Zealand is on a roll. The following wines span a wide range of prices, styles and winemaking philosophies, all of them putting forward a compelling case for Pinot in this country (with one great Burgundy added in for good measure).
2024 ME By Matahiwi Estate Pinot Noir RRP $24.99
ME is an impressive, light bodied, fruit forward Pinot Noir with dark cherry aromas and a gently spiced cedary finish. For such a modestly priced Pinot Noir, ME over delivers on every front with its honest fresh fruity style and savoury complex notes. The letters ME stand for Matahiwi Estate, which is situated in the northern Wairarapa, near to Masterton.
2024 Wairau River Pinot Noir RRP $25
Wairau River Wines is one of Marlborough’s oldest, most established wineries and produces some of the region’s most accessibly priced wines, including this vibrant and delicious Pinot Noir. It’s dry, medium bodied, fresh and youthfully bright, beautifully balanced by crisp tart cherry flavours that capture the essence of the great Pinot grape. It represents outstanding value for money and good drinking now and over the next three to four years.
2022 Rabbit Ranch Pinot Noir RRP $25.50
Famously named after the rather large number of rabbits roaming the hillsides of Central Otago, Rabbit Ranch offers a light bodied Pinot Noir with juicy red cherry flavours and a smooth finish. Good value at this price.
2023 Main Divide Pinot Noir RRP $26
Main Divide Pinot Noir punches above its retail price of $26, delivering silky textures and an impressive structure with 40% whole bunch fermentation framing the ripe aromas of dark plums and red cherries. I love the firm backbone of this young Pinot Noir, which drinks well now and can develop further over the next three to four years. Main Divide is named after the Southern Alps; the majestic backdrop to the North Canterbury, which is home to this wine.
2024 Tiki Single Vineyard Pinot Noir RRP $28
Tiki Pinot Noir is lively, medium bodied and offers a juicy expression of the 2024 vintage; a superb year in Marlborough. This wine has spicy notes supported by fresh and dried red fruit aromas, which deliver good quality drinking now and over the next couple of years.
2023 Leefield Station Pinot Noir RRP $27.99
Leefield Station is a spectacular site in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys. It was formerly a farming station and is now the vineyard from which this lithe, silky Pinot Noir comes from. This is a lively, lovely savoury style with earthy spicy notes which add complexity to the fruit brightness and freshness in this two year old Pinot. It’s medium bodied, drinks well now and over the next two to three years.
2022 The Kings Series Pinot Noir RRP $28.99
Smoky, savoury and earthy aromas combine with dark cherry tastes in this medium bodied wine with its rich mid palate and deliciously juicy, succulent cherry freshness on the lingering finish. This Pinot Noir highlights the excellence of Marlborough as a wine region with great potential for Pinot Noir.
2024 te Pā Marlborough Pinot Noir RRP $34.95
This is a fresh, youthful, lighter style of Pinot Noir from the country’s biggest wine region, Marlborough. Spicy cherry flavours are nicely wrapped around a medium bodied Pinot Noir with bright fresh fruit flavours and a lingering finish.
2024 Balvonie Marlborough Pinot Noir RRP $34.99
Balvonie is a relatively new wine brand in Marlborough and this Pinot Noir puts its finest foot forward. It was made with grapes grown on a vineyard called the Tandem Block, which is home to seven different clones of Pinot Noir, all hand picked and fermented with indigenous yeasts with daily hand plunged followed by ageing in a combination of seasoned French oak and stainless steel tanks. The result is a bright, fruit forward Pinot Noir with weight, wild strawberry aromas and a lingering finish. It’s youthful now and will continue to evolve favourably for three to four years.
2023 Pencarrow Pinot Noir RRP $35
This tasty little number comes from a challenging vintage, which shows what good viticulture and great winemaking decisions can produce. Juicy strawberry aromas lead into a succulent Pinot Noir with a light body followed by red cherry and dried red fruit depths, finishing with a lively, young, drink-me-now Pinot.
2021 Astrolabe Marlborough Pinot Noir RRP $36
This outstanding Pinot Noir highlights the potential of Marlborough’s Southern Valleys where warm days and cool nights can bring powerful structure and dark fruit flavours to Pinot Noir, as in this lovely wine. Dark cedary flavours frame the black cherries aromas, plush mid palate and a lingering finish is driven by fresh acidity driving the structure.
2021 Johner Gladstone Pinot Noir RRP $39
Smoky dark wood and savoury aromas combine with dark scented dried cherries and a twist of cinnamon in the background in a complex, multi layered Pinot Noir. Johner Estate is based in Gladstone, inland from the town of Carterton in South Wairarapa and, whilst relatively remote, this wine sub-region produces outstanding Pinot Noirs from stony soils, hot summer days and cool nights.
2022 Equilibrium Pinot Noir RRP $39
Te Muna Valley is one of the hidden treasures in the Wairarapa wine region, flanked by the dramatic Nga Waka hills – which are said to represent the upturned legendary canoes of the Maori explorer, Kupe. Te Muna is also home to the grapes that go into this evocatively named wine with its red cherry scented, floral aromas and notes of savoury, dry tannins and bright acidity. It’s a lighter style in the 2022 wine. Drink now and over the next three years.
2018 Ashwell Martinborough Pinot Noir RRP $40
Small volumes of grapes from Ashwell Vineyard in Martinborough. This wine comes from a lighter vintage and at seven years old, it is ready to drink now or soon to enjoy its earthy aromas and savoury flavours at their best.
2020 Dublin Street Martinborough Pinot Noir RRP $40
Dublin Street Pinot Noir comes from a slightly elevated vineyard, a few minutes from Martinborough village. Its north east aspect favours excellent ripening in the grapes, which comes through in this big, powerful Pinot Noir. The site and the brand are owned by Ross and Eva Mackay, a Scottish/Kiwi couple, who fermented the grapes in this wine in small batches in one to 1.5 tonne fermentaters followed by 10 months maturation in French oak. This Pinot Noir retains a youthful taste now and has at least another five to six years of life ahead.
2022 Nga Waka Pinot Noir RRP $42
Nga Waka produces one of the best Pinot Noirs in this country, even in the tough and challenging conditions that the 2022 vintage threw into the mix. This wine puts forward the dark, brooding, savoury notes of complex Pinot Noir at its best, in an impressively concentrated, full bodied wine from one of the smallest (approximately 540 hectares of Pinot Noir) but most focussed Pinot regions in this country – the Wairarapa, of which Martinborough is the heart.
2022 Folding Hill Bendigo Pinot Noir RRP $48
Folding Hill Pinot Noir has a firm place in my heart for the sheer weight of the Pinot Noirs from this warm, dry, southern site in Bendigo, which is situated north of Cromwell in Central Otago. This wine is entirely estate-grown and all the better for being made from a single site, in which its ripe spicy aromas combine with red fruit scents of cherries, raspberries and crisp acidity, which brings freshness to the wine. Drinks well now and will evolve further for five to six years+.
2023 Rockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir RRP $49
This Pinot Noir is a blend of grapes grown on two vineyards in Central Otago at Parkburn (85%) and Gibbston Back Road (15%). It’s a complex, highly fragrant Pinot Noir with aromas of dark cherries underpinned by subtle notes of ripe Omega plums and spice on the long finish.
2020 Lime Hill Pinot Noir RRP $50
Limestone is the holy grail of soil types for winemakers seeking to make great Pinot Noir, which gives this wine a head start, as does its relatively small volume, the hand picked grapes in the wine and that it was bottled without fining or filtration. These factors all combine to bring a depth in taste and authenticity in style with earthy, savoury aromas of smoked dried mushrooms, a firm acidity and a bold, bright dark cherry scent in each sip. This is a beautiful wine to drink now and it has at least another six to seven years of favourable evolution ahead.
2022 Greywacke Pinot Noir RRP $52
The 2022 Greywacke Pinot Noir is smooth textured with savoury aromas wrapped around a core of ripe red berry and plush plum fruit flavours. It was made from hand picked grapes grown in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys where hillside sites bring warm sunny days and cool nights to produce layers of flavour ranging from red fruit to cranberries, smoked mushrooms and earthy aromas of walking through a fresh forest. The range of Pinot Noir clones in this wine includes 115, 777 and 667 with smaller parcels of UCD5, 828, 943 and AM10/5, which all bring complex flavours.
2024 Mason Hidden Vineyard Pinot Noir RRP $54
This is the second Pinot Noir release from Paul and Amy Mason’s Hidden Vineyard, which is tucked down a sunny, sheltered enclave in Te Muna Valley, Martinborough. It’s a beautiful site and the wine is an excellent expression of savoury styled Wairarapa Pinot Noir, expressing the cool climate of the region, along with firm tannins and dark fruit. This wine was made from entirely destemmed Pinot Noir grapes, which result in smooth textured Pinot, which was aged in two year old French oak barriques for 12 months with no new oak.
2024 Craggy Range Martinborough Pinot Noir RRP $54.95
Best in Show at the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards is no mean feat at a wine competition that attracts over 16,000 entries and it is also a strong validation of Craggy Range as an outstanding wine producer and the Wairarapa wine region as an exceptional place for making Pinot Noir. This is still a youthful wine and marks the warm, dry 2024 year as a good vintage here cool nights preserved the fresh vibrancy of Pinot Noir’s hallmark bright acidity.
2023 Escarpment Pinot Noir RRP $55
The Escarpment Vineyard is devoted to Pinot Noir with its four single site wines and this blend of Pinot grapes grown across the small area of Martinborough, which makes it a consistently firm textured, earthy wine with great structure on release and the depth to carry it through for at least six to seven years. The 2022 vintage was a tad lighter with red fruit flavours leading the style here and a medium body. It drinks well now and will continue to evolve for three to four years, potentially longer.
2023 Cloudy Bay Marlborough Pinot Noir RRP $57
Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir is an ode to powerfully structured Pinot Noir with prominent savoury aromas of spice and sandalwood lending this full bodied wine plenty of complexity even now, in its relative youth at two years old. It’s made with grapes grown mostly in the Southern Valleys in Marlborough where warm days and cool nights bring a swathe of dark fruit flavours and beautiful weight, which frames the dark cherry aromas. It was aged in French oak (30% new) for 11 months, drinks well now and can age favourably for another four to five years.
2023 Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir RRP $58
The 2023 Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir has delicate red fruit aromas and a savoury edge in a slightly lighter style than the typically bolder expressions of Pinot Noir from Pegasus Bay Winery. Firm smooth tannins bring a medium weight to this wine with bright acidity adding lingering, memorable flavour sto each sip and structure to this wine, which is always one of the best from the Waipara Valley in North Canterbury.
2023 Palliser Estate Pinot Noir RRP $63
Palliser Estate has a long tradition of making excellent Pinot Noirs and this vintage, 2023, continues that history with a fruit forward, lighter style as a result of the weather during the 2023 summer. This wine is among the best made in Martinborough in 2023 with elegant red berry fruit flavours captured in a medium bodied wine with earthy notes adding a complex touch to this wine.
2023 Urlar Gladstone Pinot Noir RRP $65
Urlar makes organically certified wines in the centre of the Wairarapa wine region in Gladstone, a spectacularly beautiful part of rural New Zealand. This is a lighter style from the 2023 vintage, representing a Pinot Noir that works beautifully as a dry, chillable red wine with firm dried fruit flavours captured in a light bodied red. This wine is an excellent match with lightly grilled salmon and fresh salsa.
2022 Dog Point Pinot Noir RRP $60
Dog Point Vineyard’s outstanding Pinot Noir is always in my top three Marlborough Pinot Noirs each year, shining in quality with its consistent depth, weight, full body and delicacy of red and dark cherry aromas. Its complex flavour spectrum shines through in the highly perfumed floral aromas and layers of taste. It’s made from organically certified grapes which were all hand picked, hand sorted and given 25% whole bunch fermentation to add structure to the wine. It was aged in French oak for 18 months with 30% new oak. AMW. Certified organic.
2024 Poppies Pinot Noir RRP $70
Poppies Pinot Noir is made from dry farmed grapes, all hand picked with 10% whole bunch fermentation adding weight and structure, framing the red and dark fruit aromas in this wine, which remind me of dried strawberries, raspberries and dark cherries. Its structure and smoothness come from the very good quality 2024 vintage and ageing in relatively large French oak, with a judicious 25% new oak for 12 months.
2024 Q Waitaki Valley Pinot Noir RRP $75
Dense, dark, deliciously juicy with incredible depth of flavour on the mid palate followed by great acidity driving every sip of red and dark cherry fruit flavours to a long tasty finish. The grapes that went into this wine were mostly destemmed into open top fermenters with a portion of whole bunches to add structure, which comes through in the impressive weight and silky texture in this wine. It was aged in French oak (30% new) for 11 months. This is a sensational Pinot Noir showing the potential for greatness from Waitaki Valley; small in size and high in quality.
2023 Valli Pisa Pinot Noir RRP $85
Full bodied, fleshy and impressively complex, this Pinot Noir is a new addition to the outstanding Valli range of single region Pinots from across Central Otago. In this case, the wine is made with grapes grown on a high altitude vineyard in Pisa, which has been managed by the Valli team since 2021. This wine is smoky, fruit forward and robust with a structured framework of bright acidity and firm smooth tannins, which will integrate, unfolding savoury layers of complexity over the next six to seven years+. It’s also divine right now – please decant.
2023 Valli Gibbston Pinot Noir RRP $85
Gibbston Valley is where it all began for Grant Taylor in Central Otago, who first worked at Gibbston Valley Wines until he founded Valli in 1998. Today, he and his winemaking team, including Jen Parr, produce single region wines and the Gibbston is routinely the most earthy, edgy and, in my view, nearly always my top pick, thanks to its purity of fresh acidity that lends each mouthful a lingering, lush and long finish.
2022 Chard Farm Mason Vineyard RRP $88
Chard Farm is one of the world’s most spectacular vineyard sites and one of the earliest to be established in Central Otago. Today, its co-founder and owner, Rob Hay and his winemaking team, including John Wallace, source grapes from further afield which is where Mason Vineyard comes in. This is a warmer site through in Parkburn, near to Cromwell. The weight and consistent plushness of taste that shines through in this wine makes it one of the best in the region and from Chard Farm every year. It spent 11 months ageing in oak, with a relatively low 10% new oak – a great decision and lovely lithe silky wine as a result.
2022 Chard Farm Hawkesburn Vineyard RRP $88
Hawkesburn Vineyard Pinot Noir is a new addition to the Chard Farm range and is light in colour with a beautiful depth of flavour, great structure thanks to the 20% whole bunch fermentation, which brings excellence texture to the red fruit, velvety mouthfeel and long finish. It spent 11 months in French oak, 14% new. A lovely wine.
2021 Quartz Reef Single Ferment Pinot Noir RRP $90
Rudi Bauer is on a quest to hone the best from the Pinot Noirs he makes from his certified organic vineyard site in Bendigo, Central Otago. This single ferment offers the opulence in structure and firm, youthful dark tannin profile of a Pinot Noir with a long life ahead.
2023 Felton Road Calvert Pinot Noir RRP $102
Calvert Vineyard on Felton Road is one of the great vineyard sites in Central Otago and is planted entirely in Pinot Noir, all of which is hand picked with approximately 23% whole bunch fermentation bringing lifted aromatics of plush dark cherries and ripe, concentrated plums in a framework of firm balanced acidity. This adds great structure to this wine, providing it with excellent depth of flavour and length now but also giving it the potential for a long life. One of New Zealand’s great Pinot Noirs every year.
2023 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 5 RRP $138.50
This is one of the most sought after Pinot Noirs made in New Zealand each year with a muscular power in its youth, a silky texture and deep flavours of dark macerated cherries and a gentle savoury cedar note. Winemaker Blair Walter makes Block 5 Pinot Noir exactly the same way as Calvert Pinot Noir (featured above in this column), but with a longer time on French oak barriques of typically 16 to 17 months for this wine.
2021 Domaine Arlaud Gevrey-Chambertin AC RRP $149.99
It would seem remiss not to include one of France’s great red Burgundies in my annual Pinot Noir report and this incredibly silky, elegant, complex wine fits the bill beautifully. It was made by Hervé Arlaud, who succeeded his father in 1982 and extended the holdings of the estate with new vineyards. This is a great red Burgundy which shows the medium bodied Pinot Noir at its best.
2023 Craggy Range Aroha RRP $175
Dense but delicate, deep ruby in colour and silky in texture, Aroha (te reo Māori for love) is a labour of love and this is an exceptional wine. Red fruit aromas drive the front palate of this wine forward, supported by a firm, spicy backbone and smooth texture with fine acidity underpinning every sip. An outstanding wine from a tough year and a great producer. Savour every sip or cellar it.
Below: Te Muna Valley from Craggy Range's Vineyard on Te Muna Road
