Tasting Note: This tiny production of 42 cases is only sold at the winery, and one of the more expensive in Niagara. Encountered at the winery after tasting the gamay and pinot ranges I was stunned by the aromatic display, impeccable balance and silken texture.  It has a great nose, rife with strawberry-cherry jam, all kinds of barrel spice and vanillin, forest floor and violets. It sports fairly deep colour for Niagara pinot noir, with warmth (13% abv) and richness and firm but fine tannin. There is no residual sugar here which makes its opulence even more remarkable. Excellent to outstanding length likely to age right through the next decade.

Backgrounder: With mature vineyards on the Beamsville Bench, Malivoire has been focused on chardonnay, pinot noir and gamay since Martin Malivoire purchased and organically planted the Moira Vineyard in 1995, expanding acreage and range over the next 25 years. This top wrung pinot – only made is excellent years – was hand-picked by hand from two blocks of young vines at the Moira and Malivoire Estate. For this micro-cuvée the hand-sorted grapes, kept separate according to vineyard, were destemmed and fermented in a stainless-steel tank. The wine was transferred to neutral French oak barrels to age for 10 months. In July 2023 the barrels were blended, and 42 cases were bottled unfiltered.