Drumsara Wines Ltd. Pinot Noir 2013
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The 2013 Pinot Noir is the perfect example of Drumsara Wines’ Terroir, expressing dark and wild fruits of the forest; cherry, plum and strawberry, with an underlying hint of spices. The palate abounds in deep fruits, supplemented by vanilla beans and cocoa. The fine-grained tannins and lively acidity give the wine great length and ageing potential. Enjoy now thru 2020.
In 2000, John and Audrey Matheson set themselves a challenge to grow grapes and to make some great wine -- and planted just over 20,000 vines.
Many years ago, during a holiday to Port Douglas, John and Audrey Matheson became great friends with the owners of a sugar plantation named 'Drumsara’. Here they enjoyed delicious food, fine wine and friendly hospitality during this holidays. The plantation was named 'Drumsara' after the owners’ home town in County Derry, Ireland. Some years later, when John and Audrey were thinking of a name for their new vineyard, they recalled the great times at Drumsara as it evoked thoughts of what was important to them: family, friends, food, wine and the enjoyment of life.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Home to the globe’s most southerly vineyards, which are cultivated below the 45th parallel, Central Otago is a true one-of-a-kind wine growing region, but not only because of its extreme location.
Central Otago is more dependent on one single variety than any other region in New Zealand—and it isn’t Sauvignon blanc. They don’t even make Sauvignon blanc there.
Pinot Noir claims nearly 75% of the region’s vineyards with Pinot Gris coming in a far second place and Riesling behind it. This is also New Zealand’s only wine region with a continental climate, giving it more diurnal and seasonal temperature shifts than any other.
The subregion of Bannockburn has enjoyed the most success historically but the area’s exceptional growth has moved to the promising regions of Cromwell/Bendigo and Alexandra districts. Central Otago is known for its fruity and full-bodied Pinot noir. With the freedom to experiment here, growers and winemakers are easily exhibiting the area’s great potential.