Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This shows some of the greener, more vegetal stemmy and sappy edges that the Gibbston Valley can deliver, and there's a neat spicy layer too. The palate's juicy, bright, even and supple and shows a lot of promise once it settles in and fills out. Drink now. Range: 95-96
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The impressive 2013 Two Paddocks, The First Paddock is an amazing and soulful Pinot Noir and takes the varietal on its own magic carpet ride. The wine exhibits plenty of fine red fruits that simply spring out of the glass, lots here to love. I would certainly enjoy a pairing with a rare and juicy rib eye of beef. Medium garnet, brick color dried strawberries, really fine, excellent depth; medium bodied, textured and full, has a gentle aspect to it; medium finish, long and almost lusty in the aftertaste
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.