Wairiki Wines The Optimist Hawke’s Bay Pinot Noir 2020 $25 
I’d like to think I’m an optimist, but comparing my annual school photos, you can see me becoming an adult via the gradual draining of emotion in my expression. Thank heaven for the baked strawberry notes, earthy plushness, slightly foxy aromas, tweaks of tamarillo, and fuzzy textural finish of this wine, which all give me a positive attitude and a feeling of calm with every sip.
I am also incredibly optimistic about the quality and direction of Hawke’s Bay pinot noir and always have been. Especially the wines coming from the RD9, Matapiro, Mangatahi, Crownthorpe, Maraekakaho and all those cooler-climate, ‘out west’ terroirs. Brent Linn and his family founded Wairiki back in 2008 on terraces high above Hawke’s Bay’s Ngaruroro River. A small stream runs through the vineyard in winter, so the winery was named ‘Wairiki’ (‘little water’ in Te Reo Maori). Local winemaker Barry Riwai helped shepherd the wine from vine to bottle and if this were a popular t-shirt from the ’80s, it’d read ‘Frankie Say Relax’. Nibbling prosciutto from the packet? That’s the only way.
