Burn Cottage 2020 Sauvage Vineyard Pinot Noir 750ml

The 2020 Sauvage Vineyard Pinot Noir is from Bannockburn and is so different from the Burn Cottage Vineyard in aromatics and presence. On the nose, the wine is throaty and full, with cherries, pomegranate, raspberry pip and pink peppercorns. This is supple, rich and full, with pastry, pepper-rolled pastrami, violets and brine. Excellent wine. It’s bigger than the Burn Cottage Vineyard. There is a lovely chalky and gently grippy tannin splay through the finish. Sixteen percent whole cluster, 20 days on skins, three coopers and four different clones: clone 5/Pommard, clones 6, 115 and 777.

Score: 94 points -- Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, 2023

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American-owned Burn Cottage is a 24-hectare estate in Pisa, Central Otago. (The Sauvage family also owns Koehler-Ruprecht in the Pfalz.) With Ted Lemon of Littorai as a consultant, the amphitheater-like site is farmed biodynamically. The emphasis is on Pinot Noir, although there's also a tiny amount of white wine produced (a blend of Grüner Veltliner and Riesling).