Winemaker Notes
An intensely perfumed nose that’s dominated by floral notes in the typical Calvert expression. Rose and violet give way to underlying blueberry and plum with background hints of leather and polished wood. The power of the fruit is considerable but the overall mouthfeel is characteristically refined, precise and detailed. The linear nature of the tannins brings a pleasing tautness and purpose. As accurate and fulfilling as we could ever imagine it to be.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Impressive, fresh, dark-cherry and blueberry aromas here with violet flowers, too. The palate has a very sleek, polished and velvety texture with ample,spiced-blueberry and red-cherry flavors, delivering a succulent, juicy and long finish. Really stunning pinot here. Drink now. Screw cap.
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Wine & Spirits
This is definitive Central Otago pinot in the tannic precision of its cold-climate savory spice notes. Blair Walter grows it under biodynamics (Demeter certified) at the Calvert Vineyard, a 25-acre site on Felton Road that the winery began leasing when it was planted in 2001; they purchased just under half of it in 2013. The Bannockburn soils of silty loam mix here with lake-bed clay, quartz sand and fine schist gravel on a sunny, north-facing slope that ripens fruit earlier than the Elms Vineyard, which surrounds the winery. That cool Otago sun comes across in briary berry flavors, herbal notes and apple-skin crunch. It needs a few years to integrate the toasted oak, but the wine’s fragrance lasts, bright and brisk.
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Wine Enthusiast
The biodynamic Felton Road is one of Central Otago’s most highly respected estates. The Calvert Vineyard is one of their warmest and earliest ripening sites, therefore this is one of the brand’s more structured Pinots. It starts with a heady perfume of brambly red and black berries, flowers on their stalks, warm stony mineral notes and a good helping of spicy, slightly mealy oak influence. The fruit in the mouth is tangy, smudged with charcoal tannins and wearing a girdle of oak. Still a baby, this should age with grace and beauty until 2030 or longer
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.