Terravin Hillside

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The 2009 Hillside Reserve Pinot Noir presents a medium-deep ruby-purple color and aromas of blackberries, black cherries and cracked black pepper with hints of damp loam and underbrush. Medium bodied and generously fruited in the mouth, it has a good backbone of refreshing acidity and ripe tannins, finishing long and savory. Drinking now, it should cellar to 2015+. TerraVin does not currently have a USA importer.

The 2008 Hillside Reserve Pinot Noir was matured for 20 months in 75% new French oak barriques. Medium ruby colored, it has intense black cherry and earth aromas with touches of pomegranate, violets, cloves and moss and a whiff of iron ore. Full bodied with medium-firm very fine tannins, there’s a good backbone of high acid. Well constructed, this is a classy Pinot with great balance and a long finish. Give it another 6 to 12 months in bottle and drink it through 2015. Mike and Jo Eaton have staked-out and planted a very impressive hillside vineyard in the Omaka Valley, focused mainly at producing high quality Marlborough Pinot Noir, though they also have the magic touch when it comes to Sauvignon and Merlot of all things. Winemaking is hands-off here, with a focus on the immaculately tended, hand nurtured vineyards.Importer: Sober Imports, New York, NY; tel. (914) 715-1243

The 2006 Hillside Reserve Pinot Noir has a ripe sweet lifted nose of plum, wild strawberry, violets and a little iodine. The palate is full-bodied with pure ripe plum and raspberry fruit, very well balanced and elegant, but still very youthful. Supple and rounded towards the finish that lingers in the mouth. It is a little closed compared to last year but it will open up again. A little gem. Mike Eaton continues to furrow a fertile path with his boutique Marlborough label: Terravin.Importer: Sober Imports, New York, NY; tel. (914) 715-1243; fax (914) 738-0470

Just 500 cases of the 2005 Hillside Pinot Noir are produced, a selection of best barrels with fruit from the center of the gentle, north-facing slope, hand-picked, destemmed and then matured for 17 months in barrel using 45% new oak before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. It has a complex brambly nose with a subtle hint of sloes which is followed by a medium-bodied palate with silky tannins and a sensuous, red-berried finish. Very pure and natural, this excellent Pinot should drink well over 8-10 years TerraVin is a boutique winery established by Mike Eaton who purchased his first 3.2-hectares of vines in 1998 with another 6.8-hectares planned in the future. The vineyard is based in the Omaka Valley on a north-facing slope with clay-rich soil that naturally reduces vigor, reduced further by high density planting of 5,000 vines/ha. Mike, himself, has almost unparalleled experience of vineyard management in Marlborough, having planted the area's first vines as a general laborer for Montana Wines at their Brancott vineyard in the 1970s. When I visited, he had just sold part of the vineyard to Spy Valley so that he could focus on Pinot Noir and Bordeaux varieties. These are full-bodied, beautifully hand-crafted wines with superb complexity and subtlety and are well worth seeking out, particularly his stunning reds. No known American importer.