Winemaker Notes
#12 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2018
The aroma leads to a bright and lifted combination of red and dark fruits with considerable florals. On the palate, there is a combination of transparency, power and tension. The silky entry of spice and savory notes expand to pure, deep fruits, braced with acidity, but luscious throughout. The frame is a finely woven lattice work: intricate and detailed with astrong sense of longevity. This exemplary wine is a blend of four properties that elegantly expresses the graceful and more subtle side of Pinot Noir from Bannockburn.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Elegant, fresh and vibrant, this red starts off wonderfully perfumed, with lavender, white pepper and green tea notes that accentuate the purity of the cherry and raspberry flavors. Polished tannins still provide some grip on the finish, where white truffle and forest floor details linger. Drink now through 2032.
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James Suckling
Complex, brambly red-cherry and red-plum aromas with a lightly sappy, forest-floor edge. The palate has a super smooth array of vibrant red cherries and a clearly defined, layered texture. Drink now. Screw cap.
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.