You don’t see much current release, six-year-old Central Otago Pinot Noir, which makes this Kuru Kuru Pinot Noir 2019 an outlier. It doesn’t look five years old. The smell isn’t old either – dried raspberry and a floral sort of thing. A little dusty bottle age and some slow-cooked lamb in there, but the core of stewed raspberry is rock solid. Long too. Just a little volatile and stewy would be my complaint, and it’s not getting any better. Meaty maturity is welcome though – a good, mature Pinot Noir with a bit of firm swagger.

THE VERDICT

• Best drinking: now
• Score (out of 20): 17.7
• Score (out of 100): 92
• Alcohol %: 13.5
• RRP (in $AUD): 48
• Winery website: https://www.kurukuru.co.nz/
• Would I buy it?: a glass