Quartz Reef Bendigo Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013
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James
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Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker
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Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A bolder, more cuddly version of pinot from Rudi Bauer that has a broader wingspan as well as a darker fruit thread when compared to the white label Bendigo bottling. Dark cherries and plums with crushed violets and darker stony notes. The palate's opulent, boasting smooth and velvety tannins that have the right amount of grip and grab. Plum-stone finish. Drink now.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Fine in its own right, one may begin that Central Otago is Pinot Noir's new epicenter, the 2013 Quartz Reef Pinot Noir shows red and black fruit aromas and flavors; nicely weighted on the palate, delivers in the flavors and in the finish. Calls for grilled duck breast. (Tasted: May 20, 2015, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep ruby-purple colored, the 2013 Pinot Noir has an expressive nose of ripe black and red cherries, mulberries and currants with nuances of cedar, underbrush, cloves and rose petals. Medium bodied with firm, grainy tannins and just enough acid framing the muscular fruit, it finishes long and earthy.
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Planted on New Zealand’s largest quartz deposit, Quartz Reef specializes in the creation of exceptional Sparkling Wine and Pinot Noir. Once the focus of a gold strike in the 1860’s this site is now a thriving vineyard. The north-facing vineyard is situated to absorb the heat of the sun and the heat retaining properties of the quartz soils store and reflect this heat increasing the ripening of grapes in the cool Central Otago climate.
Utilizing biodynamic wine growing practices, winemaker Rudi Bauer has a mission to make wines that capture the essence of Central Otago. Rudi earned degrees in viticulture and winemaking in his native Austria before moving to New Zealand in 1985 as assistant wine maker at Mission Estate in Hawkes Bay. Since then, Rudi has been honing his craft in many of New Zealand’s regions as well as Oregon and Burgundy. As one of Rippon Vineyard’s pioneer winemaker’s, Rudi won Central Otago’s first gold medal for Pinot Noir in 1991. And now, as owner/winemaker of Quartz Reef, Rudi is making the best wines of his career, being named 2010 New Zealand Wine Maker of the Year at the NZ Agricultural Society Royal Easter Show as well as the first New Zealander to be nominated for Der Feinschmecker Wine Awards in Germany as International Wine Maker of the Year.
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.