Winemaker Notes
The palate is a powerful Pinot statement, rich dark, sweet fruits fill the mouth and layer as the palate builds. Chocolate, mocha and licorice support the fruit intensity while fine, ripe, powdery tannins add weight, richness and length.
A definite keeper, this wine has the structure to age for 8 to 10 years.
"Good full red. Aromas of dark raspberry, bitter chocolate and wild spices, with more floral lift than the bottling from Marlborough. Suave and fine-grained but also serious and dense, with suggestions of raspberry liqueur and dark chocolate. A nicely concentrated young Pinot Noir with plenty of palate presence, not to mention good sappy life in the mouth. Finishes firmly tannic and persistent. I'd hold this for a year or two before pulling the cork."
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
89 Points
Professional Ratings
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.