Winemaker Notes
Spicy whole bunch characters intermingle with redcurrant, wild thyme and violet aromatics. The palate is textural with a strong mineral thread and a fresh crunchy mouthfeel. The wine has a voluptuous sensual and elegantly memorable finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Attractive baking spices and ripe red cherries, as well as red plums, black tea, bergamot and a sappy, leafy edge. Tobacco and fresh herbs, too. The palate has a very polished feel with plush, deep-set blueberry and dark-cherry flavors, some cocoa nibs and a long, fresh finish. From organically grown grapes.
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Wine Enthusiast
Give this a moment of swirling in decanter or glass until it unravels. When it does, it's an ever-changing specimen. The first thing you notice is a toasted-almond character— a smoky, nutty vibe that grounds the vibrant strawberry and cherry fruit. Then you notice the dried flowers and spice aromas: violets, roses, ground pepper, even thyme and mint. The palate is lightweight, ethereal, but, again, tethered by fine, talc-like tannins before it has time to fly away. Like this producer's other wines, Fusilier—the passion project of actor Sam Neill—is entirely complete and ready to drink now, but could also cellar for another five to seven years.
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Wine Spectator
Shows white pepper and talcum accents up front, with precise, firming tannins that mingle with dried cherry and notes of blueberry preserves, tobacco, cedar and minerally crushed stone.
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.