Ata Rangi Kotinga Pinot Noir 2020
This Pinot Noir from Martinborough was very well put together, enough that it felt like it could pass for a Bourgogne premier cru.
Region: North Island · Type: Red · Vintage: 2020 · Producer: Ata Rangi · Grape: Pinot Noir
Tasted 2026-01-23
In the glass
There was a compost-like, farmyard note, a faint spritz, cool herbs and an earthy feel. The natural-style aromas were strong at first but faded quickly. There was none of the gunpowder note typical of New Zealand.
Producer
Ata Rangi was founded by Clive Paton in 1980, when the first vines were planted on a small, stony sheep paddock at the edge of the Martinborough Village. The domaine farms organically and has worked towards BioGro Organic certification, with the first of its vineyards fully certified in 2014. The single-vineyard wine from Kotinga was first released from the 2020 harvest.
Site
The domaine's 14 vineyards are clustered around the village of Martinborough on the North Island and share the Martinborough Terrace profile: 300 to 600 mm of shallow silt-loam over alluvial gravels 25 to 30 metres deep. The Kotinga Vineyard was established in 2000 by Roger Gaskill at the eastern end of Puruatanga road, on the edge of the terrace, and its soil is entirely free-draining alluvial gravel with no clay influence. It is planted only in Dijon clones of Pinot Noir: 777 (1.28 hectares), 115 (0.86 hectares) and 667 (1.07 hectares). Ata Rangi took over the vineyard in 2015 and bought it in 2017. After the domaine completed the transition to fully organic farming there in 2018, it says the ferments became more aromatically pure and the once strident tannins came into balance.
Vinification
Across the domaine, no cultured yeast, enzymes or fining products are used, and filtration is used only for the white wines. For Pinot Noir, the share of whole bunches varies with site and vine age, from 20 to 100%. The Kotinga wine is aged in a 2280-litre foudre to retain the bright floral aspect of this stony site.