Ata Rangi McCrone Vineyard: Tasting the difference
How different can wines made from grapes grown on opposite sides of the road be? Rebecca Gibb MW found out during a visit to Ata Rangi in Martinborough, New Zealand, and reports on her favourite Pinot Noir wines tasted.
The year was 1988 and the wine world had only just discovered the electrifying flavours of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
We might still be waiting for the latter, but many of us wine lovers are now thankful that Clive Paton sold his milking cows and bought a piece of land in the then-rural backwater of Martinborough to grow Pinot Noir.
Scroll down to see Rebecca’s Ata Rangi Pinot Noir tasting notes
Paton and his wife Phyll attended the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) in Oregon in 1988 as part of a Kiwi contingent, where they met Don and Carole McCrone.
This meeting led to a long-lasting friendship and the beginnings of a cross-hemisphere collaboration: Don, a politics professor turned grape grower in Carlton, Oregon, decided he too wanted to make Pinot Noir in New Zealand.
The McCrone Vineyard
In 2001, a 4ha block neighbouring Ata Rangi was up for grabs and the McCrones purchased it with a little help from their friends, who drove in the vineyard posts and planted a selection of Pinot clones.
The first release – a tiny bottling in 2006 to test the waters – was met with critical acclaim. But it has not been produced every year, with the fruit often making its way into Ata Rangi’s second-tier Pinot, Crimson, while waiting for the vines to mature.
In 2012, the McCrone’s sold their eponymous vineyard to Ata Rangi due to health reasons.
A string of superlative New Zealand growing seasons from 2013 to 2016 has provided four enigmatic single-vineyard bottlings, making an interesting comparison to Ata Rangi’s ‘estate’ Pinot Noir – a flagship blend of fruit from vineyards surrounding McCrone.
A Burgundian comparison
Despite being just across the road from Ata Rangi, the McCrone Vineyard is a pretty unique site on the Martinborough terrace, as winemaker Helen Masters explains: ‘There’s about 800mm of clay before the gravels, so it’s markedly different to our other vineyards.’ The result is a richer, rounder expression than the Ata Rangi Pinot Noir, with cocoa-powder-like tannins.
The classic Ata Rangi Pinot Noir, with its older vines, offers finer detail and greater nuance, but the comparison between the pair is almost Burgundian: the vines are all within spitting distance, they are tended and vinified in the same way, and yet the personality of the two sites is clear to taste.
The Ata Rangi Pinot Noir remains the superlative wine, but don’t forget that the vines have a 20-year headstart on those at McCrone.
While the late Spanish filmaker Luis Bunuel once famously said, ‘age doesn’t matter, unless you’re a cheese’, he could have appended that quote with ‘or a vine’.
Ata Rangi factfile
Founded 1980
Founder Clive Paton
Total hectares 32
Key named vineyards:
Home Block (Pinot Noir)
McCrone (Pinot Noir)
Craighall (Chardonnay and Riesling)
Lismore (Pinot Gris)
Petrie (Chardonnay)
Kotinga (Pinot Noir)
Di Mattina (Pinot Noir)
Comparing vineyards:
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Ata Rangi, Pinot Noir, Martinborough, Wairarapa, New Zealand, 2013
Very attractive nose with lots of layers sweet hay, lavender, cherries/berries, iodine and Campari. A similar spectrum on the palate, which is very structured with firm, dry tannins, concentrated fruit to support, almost a touch drying on the finish. A bold, rich expression that is seemingly at odds with the generally more elegant Ata Rangi style but the personality and intensity will win many fans. A warmer year with reasonable yields, fruit arrived in perfect condition.
2013
Ata RangiMartinborough
Ata Rangi, Pinot Noir, Martinborough, Wairarapa, New Zealand, 2015
Very textbook nose but with an added lift of blue florals: lavender and borage. Lots of ripe fruit (blackberries especially) and whole bunch spice notes here. Quite taut across the palate, fine, sappy tannins, nice energy and drive right down the line. Still quite tightly wound, this took a while to open up in the glass, so no rush here. Very windy, low yielding year, then settled weather into harvest. Good seed and flavour ripeness.
2015
Ata RangiMartinborough
Ata Rangi, Pinot Noir, Martinborough, Wairarapa, New Zealand, 2014
Initially quite closed on the nose, subtle with smoky oak and bacon fat threading through red plum, cherry and berry, iodine, sweet hay and spice. Rounded palate with a line of sappy tannin, poised and silky with acid brightly and a long, dry finish. Very moreish. Very early budbreak; a cooler mid-season period slowed down things a bit but this was the first ever harvest pre-April harvest. Also the year of organic certification, and improved sorting/destemming equipment.
2014
Ata RangiMartinborough
Ata Rangi, Pinot Noir, Martinborough, Wairarapa, New Zealand, 2016
This is pure, scented and delicate on the mid-palate counterbalanced by its density. It's a pretty expression, with sweet up-front plum fruit and a fine line of acidity and sinew, drawing this wine out on the medium-long finish. The whole bunch component has risen from 20% to 35% since 2013.
2016
Ata RangiMartinborough
Ata Rangi, McCrone Vineyard Pinot Noir, Martinborough, Wairarapa, New Zealand, 2013
The first vintage of McCrone under Ata Rangi ownership is generous and open with a round structure. Seamless and caressing in the mouth, it shows its plum fruit, nutmeg and savoury notes alongside an abundance of mouthcoating, very fine-grained tannins which leave an appetising chalky texture. Medium length. Easy to enjoy.
2013
Ata RangiMartinborough
Ata Rangi, McCrone Vineyard Pinot Noir, Martinborough, Wairarapa, New Zealand, 2014
The current McCrone release is sumptuous and silken, with rich, ripe fruit, a touch of sweet nutty oak, a savoury twist, and a mass of mouthcoating rich tannins. It has a high level of fruit concentration and a long length. A minor gripe is that the alcohol is a little warming on the finish.
2014
Ata RangiMartinborough
Ata Rangi, McCrone Vineyard Pinot Noir, Martinborough, Wairarapa, New Zealand, 2015
A suave and sexy Pinot Noir. Expect the sweet sandalwood-like oak flavours of youth layered over rich fruit in this round, generous Pinot. Beyond the fruit, there's a mass of open-pored, mouthcoating tannins which speak of the clay component of this site, leaving a structured, chocolatey finish.
2015
Ata RangiMartinborough
Ata Rangi, McCrone Vineyard Pinot Noir, Martinborough, Wairarapa, New Zealand, 2016
While this starts off soft and welcoming, it soon becomes apparent that this is an innately powerful, sinewy wine that leaves an abundance of fine, cocoa-powder-like tannins - perhaps this is a reflection of the whole bunch component, which has risen from 0 to 30% since 2013. It's young and raw, with sweet sandalwood-like oak dominating the fruit at this early stage in its development, but there's plenty of potential.
2016
Ata RangiMartinborough
