Rippon Pinot Noir Tinkers Bequest 2013

Rippon is one of New Zealand's most iconic and singular vineyards, sitting on the shores of Lake Wanaka in Central Otago against a backdrop of the Southern Alps — widely considered one of the most beautiful vineyard sites in the world. Farmed biodynamically since the 1980s, Rippon crafts wines with minimal intervention, letting site and season speak for themselves rather than shaping the wine in the cellar.

The 2013 'Tinker's Bequest' is a biodynamic, unfined and unfiltered Pinot Noir from 30-year-old vines in the Tinker's Field single vineyard. This particular vintage carries the "Bequest" designation because the fruit came in so pristine that the wine was made with zero added sulphur.

The nose shows rich forest berries and deep loam, while the palate reveals mulberry and cranberry with a touch of carbonic grapeyness reminiscent of Beaujolais, layered over genuine Pinot complexity. The structure is fine-grained and muscular, with excellent acidity and a finish of green herbs and wet-pavement minerality. 13.5% alc, with a powdery, textural tannin backbone.

Critics have scored this vintage between 9 and 9.5 points, noting its tightly wound flavours that reward time in the bottle — a wine still unfolding, and one built to keep evolving for years yet.

Shorter version if useful for a shelf-talker or clearance listing:

Biodynamic, unfined, unfiltered Pinot Noir from 30-year-old vines at Rippon, Lake Wanaka — made with zero added sulphur from exceptionally pristine 2013 fruit. Forest berry, mulberry and cranberry, fine muscular tannin, and a long mineral finish. Scored 9–9.5 by critics; still unfolding and built to age.