Winemaker Notes
Characteristic Calvert florals lead the nose with violets and dark rose petals dominating. The warmer 2022 vintage attempts to outplay the vineyard character, but as we have come to learn with this vineyard, Calvertness is rarely, if ever, outclassed. The deep silt soils and naturally moderated vine vigor provides intensity and detailed, elegant tannins. Fine and regal: a classic Calvert.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
A harmonious wine, so generous and giving that you nearly overlook the firm spine of acidity and tannin that shows its pedigree. Very fragrant and complex, with fruit, florals and spice. Great flow across the palate and proper build to the long finish. Very complete and inviting now, it’ll be hard to keep your hands off this but it will age very nicely indeed. B Corp certified and biodynamic.
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Australian Wine Companion
Such a pretty wine with its sappy-edged fruit aromas of pure red cherry, raspberry and redcurrant underscored with hints of pomegranate, rosehip, mountain herbs, almond blossom, violets and sage with flashes of shoyu and charcuterie. Very much a story of flow and elegance, all elements at concert pitch and playing from the same sheet with energy and verve. The interplay between the supple fruit, fine tannin and acidity provides great drinking and promise over the medium-term.
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James Suckling
Fantastic clarity and transparency in this wine with fresh strawberries and cherries. So bright. Medium to full body with very fine tannins that are integrated and energetic. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification.
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Jasper Morris
Sappy herbal raspberry, red cherry and sour cherry fruit with a vivid redcurrant spine of acid. The palate is bright and energetic, sleek yet crunchy tannins give an appetising bite and offset the the fruit. Drink from 2025-2029.
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.