The 2006 Rachel Pinot Noir is imbued with a delectable nose of cranberry and blackberry leaf with savory notes emerging in the glass, then autumn leaves and tobacco. The palate is refined and silky in texture with touches of dark cherry, plum and boysenberry. Elegant on the finish, perhaps without the depth to suggest serious longevity but very seductive and well-crafted.
Cinematographer Michael Seresin does not own Harry Potter’s magic wand to make great Marlborough wine, but he does have the second best thing in the form of estate manager Colin Ross, an Australian who makes Nicolas Joly look a lightweight biodynamist. Having purchased his first 167-acre parcel of vines in the Wairau in 1992 that constitutes the “Home Vineyard,” Seresin’s wines debuted with the 1996 vintage; since then he has purchased the “Raupo Creek Vineyard” in Omaka, which is undergoing organic conversion and the “Tatou Vineyard” at the western end of the Wairau Valley. All fruit is sourced from these parcels, hand-picked and sorted before being whole-bunch pressed with young English-born winemaker Clive Dougall in charge of the winemaking. Seresin is certainly a name to look out for, producing some wonderful, complex, natural wines.
Various American importers, including Martin Scott Wines, Lake Success, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808 and Henry Wine Group, Benicia, CA; tel. (707) 745-8500; Fax (707) 745-8421