Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
A lovely note of raspberry leaf and peony petal floats above pure and tart notes of crushed blackberry on the nose while black pepper shimmers. The palate is wonderfully crunchy, has echoes of smoke and fine tannins. Red fruit peeks through on the midpalate while the finish echoes hauntingly with peony and pepper. 13 months in 25% new French oak barrels.
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James Suckling
So aromatic with fresh flowers and rose stems. Shows more whole cluster character than others. Full-bodied with layers of powdery tannins and fruit on the palate creating a gorgeous mouthfeel. Tinges of orange peel. Fine finish. The vines are now 29 years old. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Distinctive and elegant, with wild blueberry, huckleberry and cherry flavors that are well-spiced, plus star anise, cardamom, clove and creamy oolong tea accents. Reveals hints of milk chocolate and maraschino cherry that linger on the long, silky finish. Drink now through 2035.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Block 3 Pinot Noir is, just like its Block 5 sibling, pretty, capacious, floral, structural and clear. It has wonderful clarity of fruit and acid here, both working in concert with one another. The wine is still opening up, and the mineral finish on it feels closed at this early stage. It's a wine for later, the focus and precision being its calling cards. 14% alcohol.
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.