2021 Tinpot Hut Pinot Noir Marlborough 750 ml

Tinpot Hut has delivered some of the biggest best-sellers in Wine Access history.

Even when supply was low, we’ve landed allocations of the New Zealand standout’s benchmark whites in every vintage since 2017. The same can’t be said of their Pinot Noir. A rarity crafted in miniscule quantities, we’ve never had the chance to offer it. In fact, it’s scarcely ever spotted in the US.

Showing the same nervy intensity and tightly-wound elegance that has made the winery’s Sauvignon Blanc our #1 bestseller in the category, it’s harvested from several parcels of Tinpot Hut’s Home Block in the Blind River Vineyards. Cold-soaked for intensity and matured in a mix of French oak and stainless steel, this delicately perfumed silky stunner way overperforms its price. 

From a year that Master of Wine and doyenne of British wine critics Jancis Robinson called “perfectly formed”—before warning of “likely shortages” due to a minuscule crop—there’s only a fraction of the amount we’d ideally like to offer. But it being our first chance at this wine, you can be sure we took whatever we could get without a whisper of complaint.

The 2021 growing season cosseted the small crop of grapes in Marlborough. To owner and winemaker Fiona Turner’s delight, dry conditions and moderate temperatures filled grapes with polished South Island power. Mainly working with three Pinot Noir clones, Turner used native yeasts and hand-plunged the must with the aim of producing a wine of pristine balance and vivid fruit expression.