Winemaker Notes
A lovely, bold expression of Pinot that opens with dark cherries and warm spice. distinct notes of dried herb and cedar lead to dark cherry and bramble berry fruit. blackberry, plum and raspberry flood the palate with a fine web of tannin, that supports the concentrated fruit core of the wine. a long, structural finish with spice notes.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Bannockburn Pinot Noir was handpicked and spent 25-30 days on skins. It went through wild ferment, with 20% new oak for 10 months and about 10% whole bunches were included in the ferments. This is all about cherry and spice, a hint of tatami mat, sumac and poached strawberries. The acidity has a rhubarb quality to it—tart without being sour. It's quite fine but also brooding and with a hint of ferrous through the finish. 14% alcohol, sealed under 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.