The 2007 The Tiger Pinot Noir has very good definition and sense of mineralite on the nose with raspberry, smoke and a touch of brambly black berries. The palate is broody, introverted but with some fine tannins. Cranberry, Doris plum in the centre, cohesive towards the finish with a slight meatiness on the finish. It does not have the structure to suggest long-term ageing as fades a little on the finish, but it certainly has character.
Chard Farm lies at the far extremity of the Gibbston gorge overlooking the turquoise Kawarau River, the first vines planted by Rob and Greg Hay (the latter parting company in 1996 to establish Peregrine down the road.) Regretfully, I did not cover them in detail in WA176 but I hopefully make amends here.
No known US importer.