Winemaker Notes
The farm voice of a distinct parcel of land: Rippon. On the western board of Roy's Bay, Lake Wanaka, Rippon's north-facing escarpment forms the meeting point of terminal moraines and coarse gravels, all based in schist, on which some of the region's earliest vines were planted. Rippon is a Wine issued from all of the fully developed Pinot Noir vines growing in this land.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Extremely perfumed with a pretty ripeness and clarity, offering plums and al-dente strawberries. Some cantaloupe, too. It's medium- to full-bodied with juicy fruit that's lovely and open. You want to drink it now. And do. Crunchy yet velvety and caressing in the mouth-feel from the lovely, open tannins. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Best in a year or two, but right on.
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Jasper Morris
Super bright colour. Nose is delightful, not particularly powerful but a lovely degree of complexity. Ripe raspberry and rosehip, then some iron filings/wet stone. Warm baking spice oak gives another layer of complexity but the influence is subtle and integrated. Palate is tight, with lovely bright brisk acidity. Tannins are fine grained and layer gently over the fruit.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Rippon Mature Vine Pinot Noir is restrained on the nose, with an earthy (i.e., of the earth, gray rocks, etc.) countenance that I find highly engaging. In the mouth, the fruit comes alive with cherry and cranberry, pomegranate pearls, graphite and pencil lead, layers of black tea, coal dust and brine. This is dark without being heavy or dense, and it’s very fine. The silty tannins linger through the finish and seem to settle on the palate, which is pleasurable. It's fresh, and it's restrained and composed. An exciting wine. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under Diam. "2020 is like a fresh, low metabolism year I would say," says Nick Mills, owner/winemaker, with smaller yields and a cooler vintage. "The wines are like the farm voice. It's a Steiner version of terroir, the farm individuality. We farm the land, which has its own individuality. The expression is something we can taste and feel," explains Nick. The vineyard was planted between 1982 and 2000. The wine was all estate fruit, handpicked, biodynamically farmed and micro-fermented, spending 14-28 days on skins using ambient wild ferments. It spent two winters in barrel—15% to 20% new in the first winter and completely neutral oak in the second winter. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, it spent two years in bottle prior to release.
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.