ATA RANGI Kotinga Pinot Noir 2020

Robert Parker Score: 94+ points

Reviewer: Erin Larkin — December 2023 Week 214 Dec 2023

Drink 2023–2035

The 2020 Kotinga Pinot Noir is savory, gravelly and spiced. The wine has a gentle bone broth persuasion through the middle palate, with star anise and sumac, hints of ginger root, clove, cherry pip and salted red licorice, and there's a gentle walnut character, with red apple acidity at the core. This is a wonderful complex and layered wine. Quite exciting. There is a lovely undulating flow of flavor through the long finish. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

This is 40% whole bunch and goes into one big oak foudre, not stored in 228-liter barriques. The clones here are 100% Dijon clones, which are also distinct from the other wines. "How do I help this site define what it is," says Helen Masters. Ata Rangi purchased the site in 2014, after leasing it since 2007. They converted it to organics after that. "It wasn't until 2020 that the site had an identity that validated it as a single-vineyard expression," says Masters.