5/5 Michael Cooper – Wine Journalist – 13 May 2021
"The impressive 2019 vintage is a single-vineyard, hand-harvested red, matured for a year in French oak casks (20 per cent new). A powerful young wine, with full, bright colour, it is mouthfilling, with concentrated, ripe cherry, plum and spice flavours, seasoned with nutty oak, excellent complexity and obvious cellaring potential; best drinking 2023+."

Super cool Martinborough label. Planted in the early 1980’s the On Giant’s Shoulders vineyard was once most known as the source of fruit for Escarpment’s Pahi label. Now in the tender care of husband and wife team Braden and Gabrielle Crosby, they have been working hard over the last two years to produce some fine single-vineyard wines

Winery note
"A mixture of clones, 10/5, Abel, UCD5 and 828 planted in 1982, 2000 and 2011 respectively.   Our intention in the vineyard is to produce florally expressive Pinot Noir with excellent structure and finesse on the palate.  To do this we undertake a very rigorous viticultural regime, substantial shoot positioning, bunch thinning and green thinning, shoulder removal, and limited leaf removal. Hand-picked grapes where processed, with an average 42% whole cluster retained in the fermenter.  Minimal additions of sulphur at crush allowed for a short 3-day preferment maceration at ambient temperature.  A portion of the grapes underwent carbonic maceration, prior to fermentation starting utilising naturally occurring yeast.  Ferment completed at warm temperatures with a total cuvaison of 25 – 26  days prior to pressing.  The wine was settle before transferring to French Oak (20% new) for 12 months, where spontaneous MLF occurred."

This is a real must try wine