• Lightly oaked
• Dark cherry
• Wild mulberry
• Smoky clove

"Aromatic Pinot Noir with an appealing mix of cherry, plum, mint, dried herbs, and spicy and stemmy flavours. A supple, attractive wine that's perhaps not as concentrated as its distinguished stable mate, but represents excellent value at this price. A wine of character and class" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Sep 2019

"There’s so much to this wine. It is a Pinot that really speaks of quality tannin, fresh and quite concentrated fruit flavors and a layered, succulent, fleshy and rich, dark-cherry finish. One of the best value wines on the planet, hands down!" Nick Stock, Jamessuckling.com, Oct 2019

Crimson has an enticing nose of dark cherry blended with new season raspberry and wild mulberries. Light touches of smoky clove and exotic spice enhance the rich flavours of sweet red plum and black cherry that burst onto the palate. Very fine, supple tannins carry evenly right to the finish. This wine is utterly charming with an underlying structure that has real weight and power.

Crimson is a selection of fruit from younger parcels of vines from the winemakers various vineyards on the Martinborough Terrace. In their youth, vines tend to be more fruit expressive, gaining more complexity with time. Now, Crimson is developing more depth of flavour, with a mix of vines aged from 5 to 20 years.

The fruit for this wine was handpicked and spent 2 to 6 days pre-fermentation maceration. Indigenous yeast ferments, hand plunged throughout. 2-3 weeks’ total tank time. Complete malolactic fermentation in barrel. Nine months in French oak (20% new).

The winemaking philosophy is the same as for Ata Rangi's signature Pinot Noir: no enzymes or yeasts are added, providing a hands-off, traditional approach which they feel more truly expresses the site. Ata Rangi founder Clive Paton is an avid conservationist, determined to help restore New Zealand's native forests to their former glory. His work led him to an association with Project Crimson, an established Charitable Conservation Trust focused on saving two spectacular redflowering native trees - mountain-loving rata and the closely related, coastal  ohutukawa, also known and loved as New Zealand's own "Christmas tree". Ata Rangi has now sponsored Project Crimson for over a decade. Sales of Crimson Pinot Noir help to spread the word of their work and Ata Rangi also donates cash for community planting projects.