McCrone Vineyard — a short story
Ata Rangi McCrone Pinot Noir
The McCrone pinot noir is a single vineyard selection. The site is only 400m from the Ata Rangi winery, yet has a distinctly different soil profile and wine expression to our other vineyards.
In the late 1990’s, on a trip to the legendary International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon, Clive Paton and Phyll Pattie met American grape growers Don and Carole McCrone. Don and Carole owned a 4-hectare pinot noir vineyard in Yamhill, Oregon, supplying one of the region’s foremost pinot producers, Ken Wright Cellars.
Don and Carole had a desire to replicate this single vineyard concept in the southern hemisphere. This led them to research New Zealand regions and producers. A cemented friendship due to the earlier meeting with Clive and Phyll helped define their choice of region and eventually they purchased a 4-hectare block just across the road to the east of Ata Rangi.
The McCrone’s drew on Ata Rangi’s two decades of experience in the area and in 2001 planted the vineyard with a mix of clones that have become part of the Ata Rangi fabric: the Abel or ‘Gumboot” clone, Dijon selections (115 and 777) and Clone 5. This provided not only a proven mix of clones but allowed the differences in the sites to become clearly expressed in the wine.
We knew this site was distinctly different to our more gravel dominant soils. Distinctive clay deposits originate from a seam that winds its way through the terrace and fans out over the gravels. This dramatically changes the conditions in which the vines are planted and grow. The major characteristics are the water-holding ability that the clay brings and temperature, which tends to be much cooler than that of more gravelly locations elsewhere on the terrace. We purchased the vineyard from the McCrone’s in 2012 and obtained organic certification in 2014.
Wine characteristics
Generally, clay will provide a much spicier, fuller front palate. This showed more in earlier years with the younger vines more rooted in the surface clay layer (around 800mm beneath the ground surface). Now, with more vine age and root depth it is becoming more elegant, especially with the addition of whole bunch from the 2015 release. The Ata Rangi McCrone pinot noir presents as a more silkier wine than the textural more mineral nature typically provided from vines rooted in predominantly gravels.
Small releases were made of the 2006, 2008 and 2011 vintages. Since 2013 we have made a McCrone pinot noir each year and continue to watch with fascination as the tannins evolve.
Learn more about staying amongst the vines at McCrone House here.
