The Central Dozen, an important exercise in telling the contemporary story of Central Otago Pinot Noir through a curated selection of 12 bottles
Website: https://www.centralotagowine.co/initiatives/centraldozen
I’m a big fan of Pinot Noir from Central Otago in New Zealand. I’ve visited numerous times, and I like the way that there’s now a good stylistic spread. I was recently sent a case of 12 examples from the 2024 vintage, called Central Dozen.
This is a selection of twelve Pinot Noir drawn from across Central Otago. The selection was made by Emma Jenkins, with local winemakers Jen Parr, Greg Lane and Sam Davies. They blind tasted their way through 76 wines to a shortlist of 19. Then they whittled this down to the final dozen looking for wines that reflected the essence of the season.
Some of my pics from various visits:
This is a beautiful region, but it’s also quite a small one, with just over 2000 hectares planted.
Pinot Noir dominates plantings, mainly because it does so well. There are 1765 hectares of Pinot here, with Pinot Gris (170 ha) and Chardonnay (105 ha) taking the podium places. Then there’s 54 hectares of Riesling, 40 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and 30 hectares of ‘others’.
These are the wines I tried. It wasn’t meant to be a selection of the very ‘best’ wines from the region, but more a set of Pinots that capture the place and the season.
Amisfield Pinot Noir 2024 Pisa
Amisfield have 85 hectares of vines with 55 hectares of vines planted between 1999 and 2018, with a mix of clones (667, 115, 777, UCD5 & 6, and Abel) and rootstocks. Soils vary between gravelly lochar soils and wind-blown loess, and heavier silt-clay Waenga soils. The entire vineyard was certified organic in 2021. Harvested 18 March & 13 April. Organic, average vine ages 23 years. A mix of wild and inoculated fermentations, 10-15% whole bunch, 20% new oak. This is supple and sweetly fruited with appealing cherry and strawberry fruit. Rich, smoothly textured and quite refined. The sweet fruit dominates, with nice texture and a subtly spicy framing. It delivers some complexity and a lot of pleasure, with a sweet core of fruit. 93/100
Burn Cottage Moonlight Race Pinot Noir 2024
Harvested 30 March – 15 April. A blend of Lowburn and Bannockburn fruit, from four organic vineyards. Vine age 9-25 years. Wild ferment, 6% whole bunch, 19% new oak. This is stylish and assertive, with bright red fruits to the fore. There’s a brightness and energy to this wine, with subtle tarry reductive hints and a touch of savoury iodine/blood character framing the sleek red cherry fruit, with some crunchy raspberry and just a bit of tannin. This combines the approachability of sweet red fruits with a touch of seriousness and some structure to really good effect. There’s just a touch of wood spice in the mix, too. Very stylish. 94/100
Dicey The Inlet Pinot Noir 2024 Bannockburn
Harvested 7 & 13 April. Vine age 20 years. Wild ferment and 16 months in used French oak. 20% whole bunch. This is fresh and supple with sweet red cherry and cranberry fruit, with some nice wild strawberry notes, a touch of spice and a bit of grippy tannin. This has some generosity to the fruit, but stays fresh and quite elegant. There’s texture and purpose here, with lovely fruit purity and ease. 93/100
Grasshopper Rock Block 6 Pinot Noir 2024 Alexandra
Harvested 6–10 & 18 April. Average vine age 23 years. A mix of wild and inoculated ferment, no whole bunch, 13 months ageing in French oak, 25% new. This has really intriguing aromatics with some peppery spiciness and hints of blood as well as floral cherry and berry fruits, as well as a touch of pot Pourri. The palate is fresh and expressive with some herby notes accompanying textured cherry and berry fruits. It has massive drinkability, but there’s also some structure and complexity. Stylish and compelling. 94/100
Maude Estate Single Vineyard Poison Creek Pinot Noir 2024 Cental Otago
This is from Queensberry, which is a part of Central Otago you get to after passing Pisa but before you reach Wanaka, on the same bank of Lake Dunstan. Harvested 18 April, average vine age 23 years, wild ferment, 25% new oak, 36% whole bunch. Warm, spicy nose with sweet cherry and berry fruits. The palate has textured, warm, spicy berry fruits with a bit of spicy oak in the mix. There’s a lovely richness to this wine, but also definition and focus. Really nice depth and harmony with lots of sweet fruit. 94/100
Moko Hills Pinot Noir 2024 Bendigo
Harvested 3 & 9 April, average vine age 9 years, wild ferment with 40% whole bunch, 12 months in French oak (15% new). This is bright, crunchy and juicy, with a spicy, savoury edge to the focused cherry and berry fruits. There’s some grainy structure here: it’s very Bendigo in style, with the warmth giving a bit more tannic intensity. Grainy and detailed, with some sour cherry on the finish. 93/100
Mora Vale Pinot Noir 2024 Pisa
13.7% alcohol. Harvested 9 April, 33 year old vines, clone 115, inoculated ferment, 20% whole bunch, 30% new oak. This is a beautifully delicate Pinot Noir with bright strawberry and raspberry fruit, with a bit of raspy tannin and nice juiciness. This tends to freshness and elegance, and the new oak adds a nice spicy twist to the berry fruits. Lovely stuff, with brightness and energy. I think this has the potential to develop, and it would be nice to see the oak integrate a bit more. 93/100
Ted by Mount Edward Central Otago Pinot Noir 2024 Central Otago
Organic, 20 year old (average) vines. Wild ferment, 15% new oak, no whole bunch. Fresh, linear and sappy on the nose with juicy cherry and cranberry fruit. There’s nice freshness on the palate with some green hints sitting under textured strawberry and cranberry fruit, with hints of reduction as well as supple fruit. There’s a slight grainy, reductive edge to this wine, but it works really well. Lovely red fruit focus to this wine. 93/100
Mt Difficulty Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2024 Bannockburn
Harvested 13 March – 17 April, average vine age 24 years. Wild ferment with a bit of inoculation where needed, 10% whole bunch. 20% new oak. This is sleek and ripe with lovely cherry and plum fruit. Textured and appealing with a core of sweet fruit, and then some fine spicy notes. There’s a richness at the heart of this wine, with some stewed strawberry, cherry and raspberry, as well as a hint of spicy oak. Really well put together. 93/100 (£31 Waitrose in the UK)
Pyramid Valley Low Burn Pinot Noir 2024 Lowburn
13.5% alcohol. Loess over compacted lakebed silts with some pedogenic limestone. The old Lowburn Ferry property. Harvested 4-16 April, organic farming, 20% 21 year old vines (the original plantings), 80% 4 year old vines (new plantings post purchase). Wild ferment, 2.5% whole bunch, 17% new oak. This is quite aromatic with floral red cherry and dried herb notes, and it’s quite alluring with the sweet fruit. On the palate this is silky and textured with real harmony to the cherry and berry fruits, and some fine spicy detail, finishing with a sappy green hint that’s quite lovely. It’s a pure, voluminous, silky and textural Pinot Noir that’s elegant and very fine. Not as profound as some of the Pyramid wines from North Canterbury, but so delicious. 95/100
Valli Gibbston Pinot Noir 2024 Gibbston
6 harvest passes between 7 – 22 April. Combination of indigenous and inoculated fermentation. Vine age 24 and 5 years. 24% whole bunch, aged 11 months in 25% new French barriques. Beautifully floral on the nose with red cherries, berries, some floral notes, a touch of white pepper and some sagebrush/dried mountain herbs. The palate is superbly elegant. It’s fresh and light but has good concentration of flavour, with a liqueur-like richness to the red fruits and silky texture. Just enough tannin to keep it serious. A beautiful expression of Gibbston. 95/100
Wild Irishman Tūturi Pinot Noir 2024 Alexandra
Tuturi is the Wild Irishman home vineyard. It’s a 2.5 ha site planted in 2002/2003 with clones 115 and 667, on deep alluvial gravels. Wild Irishman is the latest venture of the pioneering winemaker, Alan Brady, who established Gibbston Valley Wines in 1983 before setting up Mount Edward in 1997. After “unsuccessfully retiring” in 2005, Alan developed Wild Irishman with fellow Irishman and winemaker, Brian Shaw in 2021, building his third winery at the age of 85. Both ‘wild Irishman’ and the te reo Maori ‘tuturi’ are names for the native thorny shrub matagouri that is common in the region. Harvested 6 and 13 April from vines planted in 2002. Wild ferment, no whole bunch, 11 months in French oak barrels, 20% new. This has alluring aromatics of black cherries, some wood spice, and some iodine/blood/iron savouriness. There’s a touch of reduction. The palate shows great concentration, and a really wide dynamic range, from some sweet, lush black fruit character, then some silkiness, and then some grunty structure. This gives some tension. There’s a freshness and juiciness to this wine, but also some seriousness. It will be interesting to watch it evolve over the next few years. 95/100
