RIPPON
2018 Tinker's Field Pinot Noir Mature Vine
| Grapes | Pinot Noir |
| Colour | Red |
| Origin | New Zealand, South Island |
| Classification | Mature Vine |
| ABV | 13.5% |
The 2018 Tinker's Field Mature Vine Pinot Noir is rich and full—the wine is still stretched over its gray tannic scaffold (graphite, pencil shavings, black tea, star anise, et al.)—but it has flesh and bounce as well. This is a muscular expression of the site in this warmer season. It’s immediately welcoming and open, but there’s plenty of time left to go. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under Diam. Nick explained a very simple and very interesting thing to me. These wines are “farm voices.” I have described that in previous tasting notes. But to determine the three wines—the Rippon, the Tinker's and the Emma's—one must understand there are two single sites within it. For Tinker's and Emma's, the fruit from each of these sites is picked and blended as cohesive wholes: one entire Tinker's and one entire Emma's. A portion is bottled individually from each and made into the two single-site wines that we enjoy here. The rest is blended together to contribute to the Rippon. Drinking range: 2023 - 2038 Rating: 95 Erin Larkin, www.RobertParker.com (Sept 2024)
| 12 | ||
*Case price discount: Mix any 12 bottles of wine (or 9 litre equivalent) or 6 bottles of Champagne, Spirits, Sweet Wine or Fortified (4.5 litres) to get the discounted 'case price' for each bottle.
Aromas of cherries, dried strawberries, fresh flowers and orange peel. Yet, the nose remains subtle and complex. Medium to full body with firm, tight and linear tannins that are chewy and very fine-grained. Goes on for a very long time. From biodynamically grown grapes. Give this three or four years to soften. Try after 2023. Drinking range: 2023 - Rating: 96 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Feb 2022)
Rippon
Nick Mills returned home after several years away, working with the likes of Alain and Sophie Meunier at Domaine JJ Confuron, and Pascal Marchand (late of Domaine Comte Armand and then at Domaine de la Vougeraie). This experience with some of the leading players in Burgundy fired him up with enthusiasm, and we are already seeing the fruits of his experience in the changes in viticulture (to bio-dynamism) and the increased depth of mineral complexity in the wines.
Nick Mills on Biodynamics: 'Granted custodianship over this very special piece of land, the family's principle goal is to create vins de terroir, wines that are an accurate reflection of their surroundings. It is the micro-life in our soils which, in their ability to metabolise minerals into a form that vines can assimilate, are the link in between plants and the earth. This simple biology is the essential framework in producing a wine which is true to its soil and site. With this understanding comes an absolute respect for the land and life therein and it is for this reason that Rippon is run biodynamically.
Decisions made in the vineyard and winery first consider the effect the outcome may have on the micro-flora of the soils, vines & wines. Rippon does not use herbicides, fungicides, pesticides or soluble nitrogenous fertilisers on the property. All the property's organic waste matter is recycled to make around 40 tonnes of fungal dominant compost every year. This is spread back over the land during the first descending moon after harvest as an inoculation of beneficial micro-flora for the whole property...and thus starts a diverse and vital web of life on which to live and produce.
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