Novum Wines Novum Quarters Vineyard Pinot Noir / 2024 / 750mL

The Novum Quarters Vineyard Pinot Noir 2024 is a single-vineyard Marlborough Pinot Noir with more savoury detail than fruit sweetness, medium-bodied and finely drawn. Quarters Vineyard sits in the Waihopai Valley, and the wine carries that inland, cooler-site feel: bright acidity, fine tannin and a clear line through the middle.

Dark cherry and cranberry lead the aroma, followed by dried thyme, rose petal and a touch of forest floor. Spice and something faintly earthy sit behind the fruit rather than over it, and the perfume builds in the glass rather than announcing itself straight away.

The palate is taut and cool-fruited, with red berry and sour cherry carried on quite chalky, powdery tannin. Acidity does the structural work here, keeping the wine lifted and quite linear, and the finish is dry and long with a lick of peppery spice. Weight is moderate; this is a Pinot Noir built on precision rather than depth of flavour.

Pour it with duck breast, mushroom risotto, roast quail or a plate of charcuterie and washed-rind cheese. It also handles grilled salmon and soy-glazed eggplant without flinching, and a light chill of twenty minutes does it no harm on a warm evening.

Drinking well now and through to around 2031, with the tannin and acid to reward another few years in the cellar.