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Wine Taste Weekly, Tyson Stelzer Edition 7
This is a stonking price for an All Black noir. And it’s precisely that, packed with as much deep rich black fruit as has ever been seen in the red zone of Marlborough, but with that regional elegance and poise that keeps its testosterone well out of harm’s way. 93 Points
James Halliday's Wine Companion 2011 James Halliday's Wine Companion 2011
Good hue; a complex and compelling bouquet of blood plum and dark cherry foreshadows a palate full of delicious varietal fruit; very good line, length and balance.
96 points; drink to 2017; 14% alc; Screwcap
Ben Weinburg Unfined Unfiltered (unfilteredunfined.com) 'In Vito Veratis'
I recently popped a sample bottle of an impressive Jackson Estate Pinot Noir Vintage Widow from Marlborough, New Zealand. Dark red purple fruits predominated at the beginning, followed by spicy, meaty black plum and supple red cherry on the well-honed finish. Not nearly as stemmy as many of the Kiwi Pinots I've tried, and well worth the tariff.
Gourmet Traveller Bob Campbell Dec/Jan 2010
Full-flavoured, weighty pinot noir with an array of floral, cheery and plum flavours enhanced by classy oak. Rich wine with impressive power – a standout for the region and vintage. 95 points.
Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide to NZ Wines Michael Cooper
Deeply coloured this wine shows lovely richness and suppleness, with deep cherry and plum flavours, ripe and rounded with lots of drink young charm. 4.5 stars
Tasting Panel Magazine Anthony Dias Blue Feburary 2010
Dense and rich with ripe black cherry and lovely spice: smooth, bright and showing some fleshy notes. 90 Points.
www.matthewjukes .com Matthew Jukes 2010
The is the culmination of a year of tasting New Zealand wines, Matthew Jukes’ 60 Best New Zealand Wines 2010 were announced at the annual New Zealand trade tasting and consumer event at Lords Cricket Ground in London.
Northern Advocate Graeme Barrow 19th December 2009
This belongs among the Marlborough elite. Firm flavoured and mouth filling with plum and cherry aromas and flavours plus a hint of dried herbs and integrated oak, good texture and tannins, and offering a pleasing finish.
Otago Daily Times Charmian Smith 18th November 2009
A big, spicy wine that makes a statement, dense with fruit and lots of toasty oak hinting of dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla and honey. It's perhaps more impressive than charming, but if you enjoy big pinots, this is for you.
www.biggerthanyourhead.net Fredric Koeppel 16th November 2009
Wine of the Week. The Jackson Estate “Vintage Widow” Pinot Noir 2008, from New Zealand’s Marlborough Region, is more expensive than the typical Wine of the Week, but it’s the wine I was most excited about over the past few days, so here it is. The Jackson Estate is owned by John Stichbury, the fifth generation of his family to farm the same land along the Wairau River. He planted vines in 1987 and produced the first wines in 1991. The property has no connection with Jess Jackson’s Jackson Family Wines in California.
Great pinot noir wines embody certain qualities: a combination of delicacy, elegance and power; a satiny texture balanced with acidity that plows the palate the way a keel parts the waves; red and black fruit flavors that ride atop a clean, rooty earthy factor. Whatever the inevitable regional variations inherent in the vineyards of the Cote de Nuits, the Santa Lucia Highlands or the Willamette Valley, or in Marlborough or Central Otago in New Zealand, these are the elements that prevail, and the Jackson Estate “Vintage Widow” Pinot Noir 2008 has them in spades.
The color is a dark but almost translucent purple with a blue shimmer at the rim; a bouquet of cranberry, mulberry and smoky black cherry unfolds strata of cloves and allspice and mossy earthiness. With a texture that drapes the mouth like satin — but lightly, sensitively! — the wine offers lovely heft and suppleness, enlivened by blade-like acidity. Black cherry and plum flavors are imbued with soft chalky minerality that leads to a long, subtly spicy finish. One of the most elegant and expressive pinot noirs I have tasted. Winemaker for Jackson Estate is Mike Paterson. Excellent.
Cuisine Magazine November 2009
Winemakers don’t often see their spouses during the mad vintage rush-hence the name of this dense and savoury Pinot, well served by a cassis-infused fruit presence and firm tannins. Far too young to drink now; put it away for next Christmas. 4 stars.
Taste NZ Bob Campbell MW October 2009
Perfect pinot Noir – The top 12. Jackson Estate Vintage Widow 2008 “Marlborough’s top pinot noir from the 2008 vintage”.
Bob Campbell MW September 2009
Full-flavoured, weighty Pinot Noir with an array of floral, cherry and plum flavours enhanced by classy oak. Rich wine with impressive power - a stand-out for the region and vintage.
New York Examiner Robert Haynes-Peterson 29th September 2009
Jackson Estate started getting serious about Pinot Noir in 2005, according to Paterson, including developing techniques that remove the need for irrigation (reducing the amount of fining needed). The clay-bound soils in the Waihopai Valley provide density, texture and classic Pinot opulence while avoiding the heaviness of the classics. The 2008 is still young, so hard to judge. There is more dust, red cherry and black plum on the nose (where the 2007 is more floral). On the mouth, surprisingly, it's already quite round, with tones of black cherry, black leather and strong tannins. The 2007 (which is still available) highlights more savory, earth tones and bright florals. The 2007 worked beautifully with the braised pork loin, figs and carrots served by Eleven Madison. Both the 2007 and 2008 should reward 10 to 15 years of cellaring.
Style Gourmet (New York) Elliot Essman 20th September 2009
The Jackson Estate 2008 Vintage Widow Pinot Noir is the product of two select vineyards with ten-year-old vines. Soils here are clay-based rather than alluvial. The hand-picked fruit is pre-soaked in open top fermenters, given ten days maceration on the skins after fermentation, then matured in French oak, 20% new. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. I am not constitutionally constructed to readily enjoy Pinot, but this one brought a smile: cherry, cedar, and tickly nutmeg on the nose, pomegranate, cherry and licorice on the palate, chocolate and cocoa on the finish. The specifications list no residual sugar, but you wouldn't know it from the ripe warmth of this wine. The mouthfeel is smooth, with tannins and acidity working admirably in the background. Paterson suggests cellaring 10-15 years, but I suggest enjoying it right now.
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