This Weekend's Pick

Wine of the Weekend

OTU Marlborough Estate Pinot Noir 2020

There are many ways that a wine’s style can reflect its homeland, especially when it comes to the Pinot Noir grape. The French embodiment of the grape is restrained, nuanced, and refined. An American Pinot Noir may be bold, opulent and decadent by comparison. A New Zealand Pinot Noir can strike the perfect balance, being open, friendly and unpretentious, but serious – when you want to get serious! We couldn’t have picked a better example of this mindset than the OTU Estate Pinot Noir 2020.

Tasting Notes: After a quick swirl, the wine opens with aromas of cherry, wild strawberry, dried flowers, and oak, followed by flavours of red plum, black raspberry and a mixture of savoury notes and spices.

Enjoy With: Duck confit for a classic pairing, or try it with chicken wings in BBQ sauce, smoked ribs, Italian veal sandwiches, cedar plank salmon or pulled pork sliders. It’s also an easy match for charcuterie and cheese boards.

Style: A light-bodied, fruity, red wine.

Terroir/Region: OTU’s vineyards are steps from the waters of the Southern Pacific Ocean in the Awatere Valley, the Southernmost valley in the Marlborough region. Because of this positioning, the region receives the longest growing season and the most sunshine in Marlborough, giving the Pinot Noir grapes maximum ‘hang time’ (ripening time), to build distinctively bold, ripe fruit flavours.

Producer: The ancient Otuwhero River, which is fed by melting snows from the surrounding mountain peaks, gives the OTU winery its name. Seams of rich alluvial gravel rise through the silt and clay soils on the estate, aiding drainage and bringing ripeness and intensity to OTU’s wines.

AvailabilityOTU Estate Pinot Noir 2020 is available in the Vintages section of your local LCBO and for online ordering on Saturday, February 4, but some stores may already have it on the shelf. Grab your bottle today.

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Price: $22.95

LCBO #: 25803

Size: 750 mL 

Alcohol Content: 13.0% alc./vol.