Back to wine list
2020 RIPPON 'Rippon' Mature Vine Pinot Noir, Lea & Sandeman

RIPPON

2020 'Rippon' Mature Vine Pinot Noir

IN STOCK
Grapes Pinot Noir
Colour Red
Origin New Zealand, South Island
Other Bio-dynamic
ABV 13.5%

From Lake Wanaka. Aged for 12 months in mostly old French oak barrels. Biodynamically farmed. Vibrant crimson. Pure, focused, detailed red fruit. Elegant. Sandalwood and spice weaving through the fruit in fantastic balance. The palate starts with some generosity, then freshens up. It has a supple texture and good depth of fruit, but it's an elegant style with real poise. Just a whisper of tannins. Long, detailed finish. Tremendous. Drinking range: 2024 - 2030 Rating: 17.5 Oliver Coleman, www.JancisRobinson.com (Nov 2024)

*Case price discount: Mix any 12 bottles of wine (or 9 litre equivalent) or 6 bottles of Champagne, Spirits, Sweet Wine or Fortified (4.5 litres) to get the discounted 'case price' for each bottle.

Extremely perfumed with a pretty ripeness and clarity, offering plums and al-dente strawberries. Some cantaloupe, too. It's medium- to full-bodied with juicy fruit that's lovely and open. You want to drink it now. And do. Crunchy yet velvety and caressing in the mouth-feel from the lovely, open tannins. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Best in a year or two, but right on. Rating: 97 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Sept 2024)

A cooler year, made even more difficult to manage because of covid complications. Yet these are classical Rippon wines. An attractive mid ruby colour. The fruit comes out immediately, suggesting a wine to drink before the 2019. Cherries with a little graphite. There is the beginning of the velvet which this wine will surely show in maturity. It is a real charmer, with a succulence to the fruit which has been managed without losing the shape of the wine and the vineyard. Quite persistent. Drinking range: 2026 - 2032 Rating: **** Jasper Morris - Inside Burgundy  (Sept 2024)

Mellow and tender, the 2020 Pinot Noir Mature Vine gently slides across the palate. Seamless and suave, it is concentrated, complex and balanced. There's juicy, approachable fruit within its cherry fruity, savory core with an herbal element joining spiced, cedar characters on the finish. Fine pinprick-like tannins provide a gentle layer of texture on the scented finish. The 2020 can be approached in youth, but it has the integrity to evolve gracefully in the coming decade. Drinking range: 2024 - 2032 Rating: 92 Rebecca Gibb MW - Vinous.com (May 2024)

Rippon

Nick Mills returned home after several years away, working with the likes of Alain and Sophie Meunier at Domaine JJ Confuron, and Pascal Marchand (late of Domaine Comte Armand and then at Domaine de la Vougeraie). This experience with some of the leading players in Burgundy fired him up with enthusiasm, and we are already seeing the fruits of his experience in the changes in viticulture (to bio-dynamism) and the increased depth of mineral complexity in the wines.

Nick Mills on Biodynamics: 'Granted custodianship over this very special piece of land, the family's principle goal is to create vins de terroir, wines that are an accurate reflection of their surroundings. It is the micro-life in our soils which, in their ability to metabolise minerals into a form that vines can assimilate, are the link in between plants and the earth. This simple biology is the essential framework in producing a wine which is true to its soil and site. With this understanding comes an absolute respect for the land and life therein and it is for this reason that Rippon is run biodynamically.

Decisions made in the vineyard and winery first consider the effect the outcome may have on the micro-flora of the soils, vines & wines. Rippon does not use herbicides, fungicides, pesticides or soluble nitrogenous fertilisers on the property. All the property's organic waste matter is recycled to make around 40 tonnes of fungal dominant compost every year. This is spread back over the land during the first descending moon after harvest as an inoculation of beneficial micro-flora for the whole property...and thus starts a diverse and vital web of life on which to live and produce.

New vs Old World Mixed Case

This case is our very own 'Judgement of Paris' - take a journey and see how the New World takes on the Old World homelands of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah.

  • For full delivery details see our Delivery page.
  • We offer free nationwide* delivery for all orders over £150 with our own vans. We also offer an express delivery service for an additional charge.
  • Order & Collect from any of our 5 London shops. Order by Midnight for collection the next working day from 11am.
  • Private wine storage: we offer a full In Bond and Duty Paid private wine storage service - find out more here.

RELATED PRODUCTS

ORDER     COLLECT

ORDER ONLINE AND COLLECT FROM ONE OF OUR SHOPS