Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
A touch of promising reduction appears first but then white pepper and gentle spice take over. Red, pure berry fruit is still tightly held on the concentrated palate where firm, fine tannins crunch pleasantly. Drinking Window 2018 - 2025
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James Suckling
A blend of the Bannockburn, Earnscleugh and Gibbston vineyards. This leads with ripe sweet cherry-berry fruit aromas ahead of a spicy and meaty background. Plenty of youthful appeal. The palate is succulent and packed with vibrant flesh, attractive red cherry fruit and plenty of lithe, juicy tannins. Drink now. Screw cap.
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Wine Enthusiast
Two Paddocks's mid-range Pinot still plays very much in the premium league. Bright red berry, vanilla pod, black olive, drying herbs and bran muffin notes are underpinned by tightly wound tannins and a mineral streak amidst a silky texture. The contrast between the bright, crunchy fruit and the austerity of the tannins is intriguing, making this wine drinkable now, but suggesting that its best is yet to come. Drink now–2026.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh and juicy, featuring cherry and raspberry flavors that are bright and fragrant, with details of toasted rye, dried lavender and sarsaparilla, set on a dense, tight body. Shows plenty of concentration and spicy details that linger. This may become more expressive with short-term cellaring. Drink now through 2030.
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.