Winemaker Notes
Wonderful savory and herb tones are supported by spice,red fruit, pepper and mineral complexity. Supple and elegant, the wine is focused with a lovely freshness and fine smooth tannins extending the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Appealing for its density and delineated structure up front, yet notes of kirsch, raspberry and five-spice powder are generous and plush, with hints of cedar, gunpowder and dried lavender appearing on the long finish. Drink now through 2036.
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James Suckling
This has attractive aromas of fresh red cherries, wild herbs, roses and forest wood that lead to a palate that carries ripe, soft red plums, some crunchy pomegranate tang and mellow tannins. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of fruit from Lowburn and Bannock burn, the 2018 Moonlight Race Pinot Noir is a round, supple and harmonious effort that outperforms its "second wine" status. Hints of brown sugar and cedar accent damson plums and black cherries, while intricate herbal nuances bring added complexity. Medium to full-bodied, it's ready to drink now, yet it shows the concentration and length to suggest it will drink well for up to a decade.
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.