Immense florals including violets, boronia and flowering wild thyme. Raspberry licorish entices further along with wild strawberry, dark cherries, tabacco & spice. The palate is juicy but balanced by rich forest floor, clove and savoury flavours. Good tension between acid and fine tannins offers a well rounded palate with appealing length.

Grapes for this wine were sourced from carefully selected sites located within the southern Wairau Valley including Cloudy Bay's Mustang and Barracks vineyards. The soils have a clay base with aged alluvial gravels that provide good drainage. This soil structure allows a relatively consistent availability of water to the vines through the summer months, minimising water stress to the pinot noir vines.

2011 Winemaker notes: A warm spring emerged from an unusually wet winter, providing the perfect conditions for rapid spring growth. Warm conditions continued and flowering occurred a week earlier than average in late November. Rainfall in November and December allowed for a high level of fruit set and strong bunch growth through January. These ideal conditions lead to heavy crops and therefore vineyards were ruthlessly thinned in late January to maximise fruit quality and advance ripening.