Spy Valley’s Envoy has marked out a benchmark for Marlborough pinot noir for no fewer than seven vintages, but its Outpost vineyard has only been bottled separately a few times, and such is its rarity that I’ve never seen it outside NZ. It projects a remarkably elegant rose hip and understated exotic spice demeanour for a pinot of no less than 14.5% alcohol. There’s no heat or jamminess here, rather a pure and honed style of great persistence and confident, finely poised, mineral tannins that call for a decade to come into their own. Look out for this label in New Zealand.