Critics reviews
Lisa Perrotti-Brown - eRobertParker.com #203 Oct 2012
The wine has a pleasing pale but youthful colour, and delightfully vegetal and rhubarby notes, a hint of roasting chestnuts and plenty of spice, in a complex layering with earthy red berry fruit. On the palate this is Pinot in a savoury style, the spices are fruity rather than oaky, the tannins fine and grippy and good levels of acidity add to that savoury, edgy concentration. The cherry fruit begins to assert mid-palate, just softening the picture, and the swirl of smokiness from the barrels underpins.
Complex stuff that evolves in the glass and will surely age, but has the substance now to take on not only festive roast poultry, duck or goose, but maybe even rare roast beef too. Terrific Pinot Noir.
Tom Cannavan- Wine Pages- November 2013
About this WINE
Churton Wines
Churton is a small Marlborough winery, owned and operated by Sam and Mandy Weaver. Churton has been exporting its wine since 1997. Their winemaking is focused on producing Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir that combines the renowned flavour and aromatic intensity of Marlborough fruit with the finesse and complexity characteristic of fine European wines. Smaller parcels of Viogner and Petit Manseng have been added to the vineyard, the plan of which resembles a side of beef (and the various plots reflect this with memorable titles like skirt, loin and rump).
Sam has had a distinguished and varied career in the wine trade, not least his early job working in the Basingstoke cellars of Berry Bros. and Rudd! Since moving to New Zealand he established himself first as a winemaking consultant and then proprietor of Churton which takes its name from Sam’s Shropshire birthplace, known more formally as Church Pulverbatch.
Read the blog on the Churton winery.
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.
Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.
Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.
The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.
Buying options
Add to wishlist
Description
2010 was a very fine growing season at Churton with small berries that ripened evenly. Certainly there is a wealth of fruit on the palate, a mix of deep strawberry with some black cherry notes, and an excellent long finish. As always with Churton it is in a classical, almost savoury style, without recourse to overtly sweet fruit.
Jasper Morris MW - Wine Buyer
wine at a glance
Delivery and quality guarantee