“Elegant Pinot Noir”
Clayridge Marlborough Pinot Noir, 2006.
Elegant Pinot Noir with impressive fruit purity and appealing red cherry, plum and spice flavours. Very linear wine with a lengthy finish. Still very youthful.
Bob Campbell, Bobs Wine Reviews.com, July 2008
“The texture is great...”
Clayridge Excalibur Pinot Noir, 2006.
Hillside grown Pinot Noir with good density and fruit power. Flavours include cherry, plum, blackcurrant, mixed spices and wild herbs with smoky oak. The texture is great and the length impressive. Supple, charming wine. 93/100.
Bob Campbell, Bobs Wine Reviews.com, July 2008
“An absolute Cracker”
Clayridge Marlborough Pinot Gris, 2007.
An excellent example of this ubiquitous grape variety. A fruity bouquet is followed by a concentrated, rounded palate, with the typical Pinot Gris coarseness skilfully covered by some residual sweetness. Most delicious and classiest of its kind. An absolute cracker.
Chris Donaldson, The Christchurch Press, December 2007
“Delightful”
Clayridge Marlborough Pinot Blanc, 2007.
Described as “...a cute little sister to Pinot Noir” by winemaker Mike Just, who wild-fermented the hand-picked grapes in oak to produce this delightful, delicate, medium dry style wine with a floral nose and a rich honeysuckled, spicy, stonefruit palate.
Warren Barton, Dominion Post, December 2007
“A luscious mouthful...”
Clayridge Excalibur Sauvignon, 2006.
This is what’s known as a worked Sauvignon, with oak and lees contact bringing a creamy texture and mealy vanillin notes into play. A luscious mouthful that will work well as an aperitif, green olives in attendance. 5 Stars.
Cuisine, December 2007
“Refined, sophisticated...”
Clayridge 2006 Excalibur Pinot Noir.
The nose is complex and beautifully integrated. The palate shows excellent concentration of fruit, velvety texture and fine acidity leading to a lingering finish with supple tannins. The wine has a refined, sophisticated feel. 94/100.
Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, November 2007
“A great achievement...perhaps the best.”
Clayridge Excalibur Pinot Noir, 2005.
Rich pinot ruby and velvet. This wine benefits from decanting and airing for several hours to reveal a bouquet which is extraordinary for a Marlborough pinot noir. There is a depth and darkness of varietal florals and fruit to it more closely approaching the characters one associates with Central Otago ... Richness on palate and depth of flavour are remarkable, and the alcohol is much less than some of the Villa Maria multiple award wines. There might be a trace of ‘Brett’ adding savoury complexity. This wine is a great example of what may be achieved in years to come in Marlborough, on optimal un-irrigated sites. It is a great achievement by winemaker / growers Mike and Paula Just. It is amongst Marlborough's finest Pinots yet, perhaps the best.
Wine of the Week.com, January 2007
“Impressive.”
Clayridge Excalibur Pinot Noir, 2005.
Dense berryish wine with plenty of oak. Generously proportioned Pinot Noir with a solid fruit emphasis suggesting black cherry, plum, liquorice and spice. Gutsy wine. Impressive. 92/100.
Bob Campbell, Bobs Wine Reviews.com, November 2006
“Well rounded”
Clayridge 2005 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc Bright, light lemon/green, it is fleshy, with rich melon and green-capsicum flavours, dry but well-rounded. A weighty, sweet-fruited wine, it’s already drinking well. Four Stars.
Michael Cooper, Michael Cooper’s Wine Guide, 2006
“A delicious wine”
Clayridge 2004 Marlborough Excalibur Reserve Sauvignon
I loved the array of fruit in this wine – passionfruit, citrus, melon with a suggestion of mealiness and freshly baked biscuits from wild yeast barrel fermentation. It is powerful, textural and persistent. A delicious wine, typical of Marlborough Sauvignon with just a bit extra.
Charmian Smith, Otago Daily Times
“Savvy on steroids”
Clayridge 2004 Marlborough Excalibur Reserve Sauvignon
“Savvy on steroids”. Big bold and partly barrel fermented with wild yeasts, the ripe tropical fruit up front is made complex and interesting by the barrel treatment. A wine to savour."
Hugh Wood, Hamilton Press
“Excellent depth and harmony ”
Clayridge 2005 Marlborough Pinot Gris The delicious, debut 2005 vintage was grown in the Taylor Pass and Omaka Valleys and mostly handled in tanks, but 20% was fermented with indigenous yeasts in seasoned French oak barriques. It’s a fleshy, full-bodied wine with fresh, vibrant pear and spice flavours showing a touch of complexity and excellent depth and harmony.
Michael Cooper, Michael Cooper’s Wine Guide, 2005
“A fine wine ”
Clayridge 2005 Marlborough Pinot Rose
In my tasting I found a wine that was rich and structured, mouth-filling and weighty and simply downright drinkable. The wine was called Clayridge. A fine wine such as this, one of the country’s most serious Rose`s, is not surprisingly a limited quantity wine.
Sue Courtney, wineoftheweek.com
“Harmonious and silky ”
Clayridge 2004 Marlborough Excalibur Reserve Pinot Noir, 2004. From the Clayridge home block, planted in 2000 at the head of the Omaka Valley, the 2004 vintage is an outstanding debut. Matured for 15 months in new (33 %) and older French oak barriques, it is deep ruby, with lovely, soft, rich flavours of cherries and spice, savoury, complex, harmonious and silky.
Michael Cooper, Michael Cooper’s Wine Guide 2006
“...a very auspicious debut ”
Clayridge 2004 Marlborough Excalibur Reserve Pinot Noir, 2004. This is a very auspicious debut: a clean, impeccably made pinot noir, powerful but restrained, and distinguished by great purity of flavour.”
Karl du Fresne, Sunday Star Times
Clayridge 2005 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
**** “Bright, light lemon/green, it is fleshy, with rich melon and green-capsicum flavours, dry but well-rounded. A weighty, sweet-fruited wine, it’s already drinking well. Value +.”
Michael Cooper -Wine Guide 2006