A big and intense wine with aromas and flavours of plum, dark cherry and dried dark fruits. 

TASTING NOTE An ethereal, highly perfumed pinot noir hailing from Marlborough’s Southern Valleys. A delicious combination of boysenberries, Black Doris plum, lavender and liquorice are underpinned by elegant, finely integrated tannins, with hints of cinnamon-clove spice and a dry, earthy finish. 

VITICULTURE Fruit was sourced from the historic Auntsfield Vineyard in the Ben Morven Valley and The Wrekin Vineyard at the head of the Brancott Valley. A mixture of clones 5, 114, 115, 667, 777 and Abel are grown on wind-blown, loess clay soils overlying greywacke bedrock that typify the sub-region. A combination of low yields, organic and biodynamic practices allow the vines to ripen beautiful, black bunches of intensely flavoured fruit. 

WINEMAKING Picked over three weeks starting mid-March, the fruit was harvested by hand and transported to the winery where it was chilled overnight. The majority of fruit was carefully destemmed into small fermentation vessels while a portion of whole-bunch fruit was also included. After several days cold-soaking on skins, the fermentation spontaneously commenced by indigenous yeast and was followed by gentle, daily hand-plunging. Following fermentation, the wine was drained off skins and transferred to a combination of seasoned French oak puncheons and barrels. The wine was aged in oak for 11 months before being transferred out just in time for the 2023 harvest. Each batch was kept separate until June when the blend was assembled and settled prior to bottling in July

From the winemakers...

Our Chardonnay comes from an old hillside vineyard in the Southern Valleys region of Marlborough, where clay based loess soils prevail. Larger old barrels have predominantly been used to naturally ferment the wine. Untouched and aged over 14 months, without anything more than a peek in the barrel from time to time, has enhanced the elegance of this wine. Poised, with a delicious mineral backbone this chardonnay has tension, and genorosity at the same time, with a whiff of that classic struck match note that cool climate chardonnay can produce so well.

Suitable for Vegans.

Escarpment fashions Pinot Noir from the Martinborough district in New Zealand. Part of our ethos is to explore boundaries and create wines of interest and complexity.

W I N E M A K E R S   N O T E

The Noir label brings together over three decades of wine making experience, creating a soft, bright, fruit forward wine which can be enjoyed immediately or will cellar successfully for several years. Made using traditional techniques from fruit grown on the Martinborough terrace. The fruit was destemmed into open top vessels and fermented using indigenous yeast. After an average vat time of 20 days the wine was pressed off and aged in predominately older French barriques for 10 months. Bottled without fining or filtration, the resulting wine is a blend of 24 individual parcels. Structure and texture sit perfectly with ripe fruit flavours and gentle tannins that combine with intriguing complexity. Enjoy with many types of cuisine or cellar confidently for up to 5 years.

T A S T I N G 

Bright ruby red in colour, the wine opens with lifted perfume and fresh summer berries. An elegant vintage has given us softness and focus. It is very fragrant and attractive with fresh red berries, underpinned with turned earth, subtle spice and savoury notes, which add to complexity. The fresh berries continue on the palate with ripe cranberry, fresh cherry and strawberry, creating a bright vibrancy and crunchie freshness. Soft, fine-grained tannin also intertwine on the palate, creating texture and poise. This is an attractive wine that is immediately appealing but will also reward with a few years in the cellar. Serve at 16°C and enjoy with any red meat and rich pasta dishes, or as a perfect accompaniment to a barbeque.

Our first sparkling pink Portuguese wine and it's dry, medium bodied and super zest with aromas of citrus fruits and biscuits. It is soft and refreshing with a delicate acidity that gives it a great balance.  Great match with salads and good company.

Premium classic Pinot Noir Rose in classic packaging

Dry, lightly coloured, refreshing, balanced, delicate and everything else you want in a rose.

Yes  - it is wine with a tap. it's really good wine, yes again. We have sourced the very newest packaging that allows us to put this high end wine in a cylinder, allows you to have a glass when you want with nothing to worry about including not finishing the bottle. Finally premium wine with convienence.

New tech delivers no wastage, fresh with every glass, lasts up to a month, fully recyclable, and less than half the carbon footprint of the same wine in bottles. Times are a changing so get with a new programme - BigTed

Grapes from our Estate vineyards.
100% organic, vegan friendly and you can travel with this wee beauty, pop a small chiller pad in the top to keep it cool

Artwork by Callum Robertson

2 litres - 2.67 bottles.

TED  - redefining wine culture

BIG Ted Pinot noir 2023
Classic Central Otago Pinot Noir in classic packaging

Organic, soft, supple and Otago delicious fruit with red fruits, cherries, plums and all in between– everything you want in premium Pinot Noir.

Yes  - it is wine with a tap. it's really good wine, yes again. We have sourced the very newest packaging that allows us to put this high end wine in a cylinder, allows you to have a glass when you want with nothing to worry about including not finishing the bottle. Finally premium wine with convenience.

New tech delivers no wastage, fresh with every glass, lasts up to a month once opened, fully recyclable, and less than half the carbon footprint of the same wine in bottles. Times are a changing so get with a new programme - BigTed

Grapes from our Estate vineyards, destemmed, wild yeasts all aged in French oak.

100% organic, vegan friendly.
2 litres, 2.67 bottles

Artwork by Callum Robertson

TED  - redefining wine culture

2024 ORATERRA PINOT NOIR 

SEASON BRIEF FOR 2024 The 2024 season was a contrast to 2023, coming with a sting - or in this case, a grand finale - at the end. It was a splendid season, and the general feeling is that 2024 will be remembered alongside 2013, 2001 and 1998 as an outstanding year. A cool and turbulent spring meant that the fruit set was reduced, and thus the potential yield at harvest was down too. However, summer conditions were nothing short of amazing, the sun was out in full force, with very little rainfall. The key to the success was our vineyard management this year by keeping ample shade and leaf cover to lower vineyard temperatures and conserve water. The extended warm and dry weather periods resulted in wines that have retained freshness with good generosity. 

TASTING NOTE Beautiful vintages like 2024 risk losing a certain hook, or friction, in the wine. By picking early we avoided this risk and were able to retain good acidity and a degree of disposition to provide interest in the wine. Dark and bright fruit are the antagonists, with Morello cherry cutting through the riper characters. This Pinot Noir goes beyond typical varietal qualities to offer an array of complex and inviting aromatics. The wine is rounded and softly cushioned, moving effortlessly over the palate, with soft tannins acting as chaperones and guiding the fruit toward each corner of the mouth. Ageing: Age for 10-15 years Enjoy at a temperature of 18°C-20°C 

WINEMAKING We harvest all our fruit by hand into small tubs. The fruit is sorted the following day, cold, fully destemmed into small ferment vessels. Natural fermentation occurs, with an occasional hand plunge to help keep the ferments happy and homogenous. At around 18 - 24 days in the fermenting vessel, we pressed the wines and transferred them to large format barrels, 300 & 500 litres, for 12-18 months. The wine is racked and blended into stainless steel tanks before bottling without fining or filtration. 

TECHNICAL INFORMATION Vineyard source(s): McCreanor Vineyard, 37 Princess Street & La Belle Vie Vineyard, 115 New York Street, Martinborough, NZ Harvest dates: 8-18 March 24 | Harvest Brix: 21.5 - 24 Brix Alcohol by Volume: 13% | pH 3.68 | TA: 5.2 g/l

The 2021 Le Difese is redolent of crushed red berry fruit, rose petal, lavender, spice and sweet pipe tobacco. Medium in body yet nicely layered, the 2021 is impeccably balanced. It is also a sheer delight to taste at this early stage. In many vintages, Le Difese is a fruity, forward wine, but the 2021 has a nervy feeling of classicism that is hugely appealing. It's one of my favorite recent vintages. As it has been for some time, Le Difese is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate and Sangiovese purchased from several properties in Chianti Classico, with the energy of Sangiovese very much driving the feel in this vintage. 

91pts – Vinous Media

Tasting Notes
Nectarine stone, honey dew and lemon zest on the nose lead to a rich creamy texture, finishing with freshness and poise. A fantastic aperitif style that is also well matched with richer dishes of cheese, pork, charcuterie, seafood and poultry.
About the Wine
Grown at Red Bank Vineyard, Alexandra and featuring the Proprietor’s Grandfather, Sydney Neill Wine Merchant, on the label, Picnic Riesling is our perennial favourite and a wonderful introduction to the pleasure of Central Otago Riesling. We think it is just as much a dinner wine as a luncheon – equally enjoyable at home outdoors, as at the Captain’s Table. Hand harvested and crafted in to a delicious refreshing off-dry style appealing to just about everyone on the planet.

Vintage Comments
A mild, wet 2022 winter meant soils held a lot of water going into the spring and inter-row companion crops including clover, phacelia and barley got off to a strong start. Early spring was very cold and then as spring warmed up in November shoot growth was strong. Flowering started the first week in December and fruit set was considered good on most blocks. Mid-summer heat was high and growing degree days were above 2022 and on par with 2019 by the end of the season.

Picking dates were moving forward until the second half of March when the heat ran out and the final ripening was slow and cool. Harvest started on the 27th of March at Red Bank Vineyard and finished on the 21st of April at The First Paddock, Gibbston. Cropping levels were just short of the optimum 2022 crop.

VINEYARD MANAGEMENT - Soils are schist based gravelly loams. Own roots – cane cuttings from Felton Road. Single cane, one bunch per shoot and very close planted at 5500 vines per hectare. Both shoot and lateral thinned to reduce crop load. Leaves that expose the grapes when ripening are also plucked off to increase sunlight exposure in to the vine canopy. Hand harvested.

WINE MAKERS NOTES - Hand harvested on the 17th April 2023 at 21 Brix and whole bunch pressed, meaning that the press was loaded with the grapes as intact bunches, versus removing the stems first. This pressed juice was then steeped on those skins (in wine language we call that ‘skin contact’) for 14 hours to extract aromatics and flavour and then it was inoculated with yeast and fermented to ‘just off-dry’ wine. We then left the wine sitting in tank on its lees (spent yeast cells that boost body and complexity) for three months before bottling. Please note the International Riesling scale on the back label.

Tasting Note: Tender and succulent, the plums are carefully hand-picked at the moment of perfect ripeness. In an aged-old tradition, they are fermented and then aged to ensure a rich, smooth flavour.

Product Details:
Volume: 750ml
Alcohol: 13.0%
Region: Fushimi

Superb savoury Central Otago Pinot Noir with fragrant perfumed flavours of red cherries, cranberries and wild thyme, made from hand picked grapes grown on the Te Kano estate vineyard in Bannockburn, home to the winery's new cellar door and tasting room.

The grapes are fermented in separate vineyard lots then blended together and the finished wine is aged in French oak for 10 months, developing spicy notes which complement the wine's red cherry, red berry and wild thyme flavour notes. 

It's dry and medium bodied with a smooth soft character.

Central Otago at its liveliest and at an affordable price.

100% Harslevelu from the  Siklós, Zuhánya Cru

Age of vine - stocks:    plantation in 2006

Yield:    1-2 kg/vine - stock

Cultivation  method:    Middle- high cordon training system

Harvest:    End of October 2020

Vinification+ maturation:   After light crush and destemming, 1 night maceration then fermentation in  stainless steel tanks. After fermentation finished, 10 months aging in 5 hl oak barrels on fine lees.

Bottled:    February 2014.    3.300 bottles

Tasting notes:   Floral aromas explodes as wine gets into glass. Oak fermentation and aging promises a complex, vigorous, exciting wine. Concentrated, deep and mineral at once, a great gun amongst white wines. The elegancy and richness shows how excellent a white wine can be amongst the reds in Villany wine region.