The Lakes
Raymond Chan Wine Reviews

 Only wine of bronze medal standard 15.5/20 or «««) & above will have reviews published in raymondchanreviews.co.nz

The Lakes, Central Otago
Pinot Noir 2014

A new venture, ‘The Lakes’ is the Central Otago Pinot Noir wine under the ‘3 Winemen’ wine distribution business led by John Davies who has had an extensive career with Montana, Pernod-Ricard and more recently with Tiki.

‘3 Winemen’ is an importer, the best known brand being the Castelnau Champagne house with support in Bordeaux and Argentine reds, John working closely with Keith Isaacs MW in sourcing wine.  ‘The Lakes’ is a wine closer to home, made from Central Otago Pinot Noir fruit by Dan and Sarah-Kate Dineen at the Maude winery.

The Lakes, 'Single Vineyard'
Central Otago Pinot Noir 2014 ««««« 

Full, dark, deep, black-hued ruby-red colour with some youthful purple hues.  The nose is elegantly proportioned with tightly bound aromas of vibrantly ripe black cherry and berry fruits interwoven with black plums and subtle thyme herbs, spices and penetrating dark red and violet perfumes.  A suggestion of savoury stalk nuances adds to the complexity.  Medium-full bodied, the palate features a concentrated core of rich and luscious, lively black berry and black cherry fruit.  Layers of plum, thyme herb and savoury stalk nuances unfold.  The palate features fine-grained tannin extraction and structure to match the succulent fruit, and the wine flows with good energy and linearity, carrying to a very long, lingering finish of dark spicy cherry and plum flavours.  This is a concentrated, luscious and lively black-fruited Pinot Noir with fresh and finely balanced tannin structure.  Match with lamb, beef, venison and semi-hard cheeses over the next 5-7 years.  A selection of 13 barrels.  Clones 115 and 667 from a single vineyard in the Queensberry-Tarras district, fermented with approx. 20% whole cluster to 14.0% alc., the wine aged 10-12 months in 25% new French oak. Winemakers: Dan and Sarah-Kate Dineen.  18.5/20  Jun 2015  RRP $35.95

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