Winemaker Notes
Bright lifted red fruit notes complement darker savory earth tones along with spice, a touch of chocolate and subtle blood orange nuances. The palate is generous and complex, focused throughout by a mineral freshness and energy, and supported by lovely acidity with persistence of fine textural tannins. A wine that will continue to gain complexity, and a we expect a cellaring potential of 10+ years.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has very attractive, ripe red-cherry and plum aromas with spicy and sappy complexity, sitting in such a pure mode. The palate has a very composed and compact, layered feel with pristine blueberry, dark-cherry and plum flavors, delivered in an elegant, regal style. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
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Decanter
If you thought Central Otago was all about bright, fruit-driven Pinot, then get this in your glass. This biodynamic vineyard overlooking Cromwell has produced a mellow, savoury and nuanced expression with the most beautifully handled tannins of the vintage - they are mouthcoating yet provide structure in combination with the fresh acidity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot Noir shows considerable intensity and length, but it starts off with charming floral notes, hints of thyme and cedar and lashings of black cherries. It's that elusive combination of concentration and complexity, wrapped in a silky coat of ripe tannins, that raises this wine to the next level. It should drink well for a decade or more.
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.