2024 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir

One of New Zealand's Greatest Pinot Noirs – And the 2024 Is Exceptional

Few producers have done more to establish Martinborough as one of the world's serious Pinot Noir regions

97 Points – The Real Review | 96 Points – JamesSuckling.com | 95+ Points – The Wine Front

RRP $130

Martinborough, New Zealand

There are New Zealand Pinot Noirs.

And then there is:

Ata Rangi.

Few producers have done more to establish Martinborough as one of the world's serious Pinot Noir regions, and the flagship Ata Rangi Pinot Noir has become one of the benchmark wines of New Zealand.

The 2024 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir continues that extraordinary story.

Made from some of Ata Rangi's oldest vines across six vineyard sites on the Martinborough Terrace, this is the estate's signature Pinot Noir—a wine built around perfume, complexity, savoury detail, beautifully fine tannins and genuine longevity.

And the critics have responded:

97 Points – The Real Review

96 Points – JamesSuckling.com

95+ Points – The Wine Front

At an RRP of $130, this is serious Pinot Noir.

But when you consider the vineyard history, vine age, reputation and extraordinary track record of Ata Rangi, you're looking at one of the great reference-point wines of the Southern Hemisphere.

97 Points – The R Review

The 2024 has received:

His recommended drinking window runs from approximately:

2028–2042.

This isn't simply a delicious young Pinot Noir.

It's a serious cellar wine.

96 Points – JamesSuckling.com

That's classic high-quality Martinborough Pinot.

Fruit is important.

But underneath the fruit there's:

Structure.

Minerality.

Savouriness.

Tension.

And that's what separates serious Pinot Noir from simply pretty Pinot Noir.

Tasting Profile

The 2024 is a beautifully complex, layered expression of Martinborough Pinot Noir.

Expect:

• Red cherry
• Ripe strawberry
• Raspberry
• Cranberry
• Blueberry
• Dried orange peel
• Dried herbs
• Sage
• Black pepper
• Earth
• Wood smoke
• Subtle nutty complexity
• Flint
• Fine, structural tannins
• Bright acidity
• Long, expansive finish

Ata Rangi's own notes highlight sweet dried hay, sage, cranberry and ripe strawberry, while independent reviews add raspberry, cherry, earthy spice, pepper, smoke and mineral detail.

There's fruit.

But this isn't a simple fruit-driven Pinot Noir.

It's the layers underneath that make Ata Rangi so compelling.

Old Vines – Six Martinborough Vineyards

This is one of the most important parts of the wine.

The flagship Ata Rangi Pinot Noir isn't a single-vineyard bottling.

Instead, it brings together fruit from:

Six of Ata Rangi's vineyards on the Martinborough Terrace.

More importantly, these are some of the estate's oldest vines.

Ata Rangi describes the wine as a blend of its old-vine parcels grown across the alluvial gravels of the Martinborough Terrace.

That's the foundation of the wine.

Multiple vineyard parcels.

Old vines.

Martinborough gravel.

Decades of experience.

All brought together into the wine Ata Rangi considers its signature Pinot Noir.

A Pinot Noir Story Going Back to 1985

Ata Rangi's first release of its flagship Pinot Noir was:

1985.

Think about that.

Ata Rangi wasn't jumping onto the New Zealand Pinot Noir bandwagon.

It helped create it.

Martinborough's international reputation for Pinot Noir was still in its infancy when Ata Rangi began.

Four decades later, the estate is still producing one of the country's benchmark expressions.

That history matters.

Especially with Pinot Noir.

Because great Pinot is built not just on winemaking, but on:

Vine age.

Vineyard knowledge.

Understanding individual parcels.

Knowing how a site behaves in different vintages.

Ata Rangi has had decades to learn those lessons.

Martinborough Terrace – Gravel Is the Key

Martinborough is tiny compared with many of the world's famous wine regions.

But its reputation is enormous.

The Martinborough Terrace is characterised by free-draining alluvial gravel soils, and Ata Rangi's old vines are deeply connected to these sites.

For Pinot Noir, the combination can produce wines with an extraordinary balance of:

Fruit concentration

and

Savoury structure.

That's why Martinborough Pinot can be so different from Pinot grown elsewhere in New Zealand.

These aren't necessarily delicate, featherweight wines.

The best examples can have genuine:

Power + Structure + Finesse.

The 2024 Ata Rangi has all three.

One of New Zealand's Benchmark Pinot Noirs

If you wanted to show someone what serious New Zealand Pinot Noir can be, Ata Rangi would be one of the first bottles I'd reach for.

This is one of those producers that transcends regional interest.

It's not simply:

“Good New Zealand Pinot Noir.”

It's a wine that belongs in conversations about serious Pinot Noir full stop.

The combination of old vines, Martinborough gravel, meticulous viticulture and decades of experience has created a wine with a genuine identity.

You taste Ata Rangi and you aren't simply tasting Pinot Noir.

You're tasting Martinborough.

Helen Masters

Winemaker Helen Masters is central to modern Ata Rangi.

Her approach has helped preserve the estate's reputation while pushing the wines towards ever greater precision.

And that's important because Pinot Noir doesn't reward heavy-handed winemaking.

The best examples aren't about maximum extraction or maximum oak.

They're about preserving:

Perfume.

Texture.

Site.

Tannin.

Energy.

Complexity.

The reviews of the 2024 repeatedly come back to those characteristics—fine tannin, tension, savouriness, complexity and exceptional length.

Certified Organic

The 2024 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir is also listed as:

Certified Organic.

For a wine where vineyard expression is everything, farming matters enormously.

Pinot Noir is extraordinarily sensitive to where and how it's grown.

And Ata Rangi's continued emphasis on vineyard health and sustainable farming is part of the long-term story behind these wines.

13.5% Alcohol – Beautifully Judged

The 2024 sits at:

13.5% alcohol.

That's beautifully judged for a serious Pinot Noir.

There's enough ripeness to give the wine concentration and depth.

But there's no sense that alcohol is driving the wine.

Instead, everything is built around:

Fruit

Acidity

Tannin

Savouriness

and

Length.

That's balance.

Pinot Noir – Power Without Weight

This is something great Pinot Noir does better than almost any other grape variety.

It can be enormously powerful without actually feeling heavy.

That's exactly the territory the 2024 Ata Rangi occupies.

Stephen Wong MW describes it as possessing innate power, yet the wine remains finely detailed and beautifully balanced.

There's concentration.

There's tannin.

There's acidity.

There's length.

But none of it feels excessive.

Power without weight.

That's one of the hallmarks of great Pinot Noir.

The Savoury Side of Martinborough

One reason I love Martinborough Pinot is that the wines can move beyond simple cherry and strawberry fruit.

Ata Rangi shows plenty of that classic red fruit.

But then you get:

Dried herbs

Earth

Pepper

Smoke

Flint

Savoury spice

and subtle woodland characters.

A contemporary retailer even highlights Martinborough's characteristic umami-like notes of charcuterie, culinary herbs and earthy spice in the wine.

That's where things become really interesting.

It's the difference between a Pinot Noir that's simply delicious and one you keep coming back to in the glass.

Burgundy Lovers – Pay Attention

I wouldn't call Ata Rangi “Burgundian”.

Great Martinborough Pinot doesn't need to pretend it's Burgundy.

But if you love Burgundy because you value:

Perfume

Fine tannins

Earth

Minerality

Savoury complexity

Long ageing potential

then Ata Rangi makes enormous sense.

This is Pinot Noir with genuine structure.

And importantly, it has its own identity.

Martinborough doesn't need to be Burgundy.

The best wines are now benchmarks in their own right.

Ata Rangi is one of them.

The Ata Rangi Pinot Noir Hierarchy

2024 is particularly interesting because Ata Rangi has released several exceptional Pinot Noirs.

2024 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir

97 Points – The Real Review
96 Points – JamesSuckling.com
95+ Points – The Wine Front

2024 Ata Rangi Kotinga Pinot Noir

97 Points – James Suckling

2024 Ata Rangi McCrone Pinot Noir

98 Points – James Suckling

2024 Ata Rangi Masters Pinot Noir

97+ Points – Cam Douglas MS

That's a formidable collection of Pinot Noir.

And the flagship Ata Rangi remains the wine that brings the estate's old-vine Martinborough story together.

Food Pairings

This deserves good food.

Try it with:

• Duck breast
• Roast duck
• Venison
• Quail
• Beef fillet
• Lamb loin
• Mushroom risotto
• Wild mushroom pasta
• Truffle dishes
• Roast chicken
• Charcuterie
• Comté
• Gruyère

My first choice?

Duck.

Ata Rangi itself is frequently paired with duck and game, and the combination makes perfect sense.

Cherry, strawberry, earth, herbs and spice alongside the richness of duck is a classic Pinot Noir combination.

Serve around:

14–16°C.

This One Deserves the Cellar

You absolutely can drink the 2024 now.

But should you?

Probably not if you only have one bottle.

Stephen Wong MW believes the wine needs a few years to reveal its full potential and gives it a drinking window of approximately:

2028–2042.

Cam Douglas goes even further, suggesting the first bottle should perhaps be opened around 2030, with the wine developing through 2041+.

I'd suggest:

Drink 2028–2043+.

If you're opening one now, give it plenty of air.

Two to three hours in a decanter wouldn't frighten me.

But ideally?

Buy several.

Drink one.

Then forget about the others for five years.

$130 – Expensive Pinot? Or Serious Value?

$130 isn't inexpensive wine.

But context matters.

You're getting:

97 Points – The Real Review
96 Points – JamesSuckling.com
95+ Points – The Wine Front
Old-Vine Pinot Noir
Six Martinborough Terrace Vineyards
Certified Organic
Helen Masters
Ata Rangi's Signature Wine
A Pinot Noir history stretching back to 1985
Genuine 15+ year cellaring potential

At that point, $130 starts looking very different.

Compare it with what you now pay for serious Premier Cru Burgundy and the value proposition becomes even more compelling.

Why We Love It

Some wines need a sales pitch.

Ata Rangi doesn't.

This is one of the names that helped put New Zealand Pinot Noir on the world stage.

The flagship Pinot Noir has been produced since 1985.

It's built from some of Ata Rangi's oldest vines across six sites on the Martinborough Terrace.

And the 2024 has delivered:

97 Points – The Real Review

96 Points – JamesSuckling.com

95+ Points – The Wine Front

The wine combines cherry, strawberry, raspberry and cranberry with herbs, earth, pepper, smoke and flinty complexity, wrapped around beautifully detailed tannins and vibrant acidity.

It's delicious now.

But everything about its structure suggests the real magic is still ahead.

If you collect Pinot Noir, this belongs in the cellar.

If you love Burgundy, you need to know Ata Rangi.

And if you want to understand why Martinborough is regarded as one of the great Pinot Noir regions of the Southern Hemisphere, this is the bottle I'd put in front of you.

97 Points. Old Vines. Martinborough Terrace. Ata Rangi.

The 2024 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir isn't simply one of New Zealand's great Pinot Noirs – it's a genuinely world-class Pinot Noir with the structure, complexity and pedigree to evolve beautifully for decades.