Wine: Playing his cards right

2008 Kupe Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Photo / Richard Robinson

Sometimes referred to as the godfather of pinot noir in New Zealand, he strides the landscape like Goliath.

Although he wasn't the first to wrestle with the varietal and like a number of other successful local winemakers he's actually Australian, Larry McKenna has been here so long he's lost most traces of the "strine" accent. According to Palliser Estate's Richard Riddiford, a recent inductee to the New Zealand Wine Hall of Fame, McKenna "put Martinborough on the map".

Formerly of Delegats, then pioneering winemaker at the Martinborough Vineyard, the smiling, amiable, gentle giant now produces a clutch of pinot noir and white wines under his own Escarpment label.

It was in 1998 that the first plantings went in at the Te Muna Rd property, a short drive south-east of the quaint township. McKenna embraces the concept of "terroir" with a passion bordering on obsessive but after around 23 years of winemaking experience in the region, he believes it's time to start defining individual geographic sites with a range of Single Vineyard wines he has called the "Martinborough Insight Series".

The wines allow for individual vineyard expression from exceptional sites, using some of the oldest vines in the district. Kiwa, Pahi and Te Rehua are the new specific sites added to Te Muna Rd, where the existing Kupe pinot noir is from.

Kiwa, from 27-year-old vines produces savoury complex and spicy wine, Te Rehua, from vines more than 20 years old, delivers pinot noir with black cherry and plum fruit flavours, while Pahi, from one of the oldest pinot vineyards in the district, produces a soft ripe pure fruit style.

Add these three to the already well-established, highly praised Kupe brand and you have, in card-playing terms, a full house.

The wines are at the top end of the price spectrum but then exceptional pinot carries a high-maintenance, high-risk cost burden which ultimately is reflected in what we have to pay. The great irony for me is that McKenna's latest chardonnay is one of the most outstanding wines I've ever tried - the joker in the pack.

RECOMMENDED

2008 Kupe by Escarpment Chardonnay
Insight Series single vineyard.
Quite astonishing. Gorgeous weight, balance and texture. Very burgundian with restrained fruit, swish of oak and flinty mineral backbone. Sublime.
Price: $55

2008 Kupa by Escarpment Pinot Noir
Insight Series single vineyard.
Classic pinot noir from Martinborough. Subtle fruit flavours, soft, elegant, supple with moreish, savoury undertones. Delicate complexity. Think Audrey Hepburn.
Price: $65