2021 Cloudy Bay, Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand

The 2021 Pinot Noir Marlborough is an attractive, immediately pleasurable style. It fills the mouth with a sense of calm, providing a cloud of dark berry fruit alongside subtle French oak-derived notes of cedar and spice and a savoury bacon touch. It is silken and finely textured, reflecting the increasing refinement and handling of Pinot Noir both at Cloudy Bay and in Marlborough as a region. The tannins coat the mouth like melted chocolate on the long, scented finish. This is a wine that's difficult not to like.Drink 2023 - 2028Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous.com.com (January 2023)

Plenty of ripe strawberry with some black cherry character too. Violets and other flowers. Full-bodied with plenty of fruit and fine tannins that nicely frame the wine. Just a hint of smoke to the clear fruit and toasted oak. Very drinkable now, but two or three years of bottle age will bring it together even more. Drink or hold. Screw cap.james_suckling, jamessuckling_com (May 2023)

Mostly Southern Valleys. Key vineyards: Barracks, Mustang and Delta. Low crop. Flowering is not great. Varied berry size. They focused on the bigger berries. The optical sorter got rid of raisined berries, leaving pristine fruit. Mostly destemmed (5% whole bunch). 5–7 days’ cold soak. Fermented up to 32/33 °C. Many plunges, up to four in 24 hours. One-third new oak. Not yet released. Picked at about 24 °Brix.Very dark crimson, indeed. Sweet and a bit simple. With tannin on the end.Drink 2024 - 2029jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com (March 2023)