Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has such freshness at between nine and ten years of age. It delivers a very rich, blue-fruit core with spiced earth and light, leathery nuances. The palate has composed and compact tannins and a slinky and rich, powerful array of blueberries and a long, juicy, succulent and vibrant finish. Shows just how well Rippon pinots age. This is just getting started! From biodynamically grown grapes. Maturation release. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
This red shows good depth and concentration to its flavors of black cherry and blackberry , featuring notes of star anise, slate and white pepper, with fine-grained tannins. The lengthy finish goes on and on.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep ruby-purple in color, the 2010 Pinot Noir is scented of red currants, wild blueberries and black berries with hints of yeast extract, soy and cumin seeds. Medium-bodied and elegantly fruited in the mouth, it has a medium level of grainy tannins, refreshing acid and a long, earthy finish. Approachable now, it should continue to drink to 2017+.
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.