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Rockburn The Art Central Otago Pinot Noir

  • Pinot Noir
  • New Zealand, 750ml
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"Complex, elegant, lifted, sophisticated, a wine with aromas of ripe red berry fruits, red stone fruits, plum and barrel spices. There’s a sense of place within the bouquet and this follows through to the palate with a dried herb and gravelly clay soil quality. Tannins are firm, ripe and along with the acidity lay the foundation for texture and ageing. There’s a tautness to the palate highlighting the youthful nature. Plenty of fruit and sweetbrier spice flavours. A lovely wine with length and complexity. Well made." Cameron Douglas

  • Winery: Rockburn
  • Varietal: Pinot Noir
  • Region: Central Otago, New Zealand
  • Vintage: 2021
  • Alcohol: 13.5%
  • Volume: 750ml
  • Closure: Screwcap
  • Other: Vegan-Friendly, Sustainable Winegrowing
  • Food pairing: Chicken & duck; lamb & mild sausage; tuna & salmon; mushroom risotto; mushroom & light-medium red sauces; brie & goats cheese

One of the (many) attractions to the field of Winemaking is that singular combination of art and science employed to craft each wine, every year. The Science is well defined, and the literature is continually being added to; the Art is not so easy to pin down. It is born of the individual winemaker and their Muse and exists in the heart; it finds its expression within the senses of the imbiber. This wine is the result of Rockburn's Winemaker let loose to practice his Artistry on fruit from other sites within Central Otago.

Created from a single vineyard site high in the Dunstan foothills this Pinot Noir speaks with great eloquence of its origins. Very high-quality fruit and excellent physiological ripeness allowed for a generous inclusion of whole bunches in the ferment, adding spice and texture to the wine, and further complexity and harmony was encouraged with extended maturation in barrel. This wine shows a dense core of dark cherries, suggestions of star anise and cinnamon, firm yet pliable tannins and a structure defined by length and elegance. Fine tension and minerality underline the palate and indications are strong for a decade or so of cellaring should you wish; please be aware a fine deposit may occur as a result of our minimal handling philosophy.

This luxurious, award-winning Pinot makes an ultimate red wine gift for someone special or corporate gift. Buy here in our online liquor store and get delivered direct to your door, we deliver nationwide.

ROCKBURN

Rockburn takes its name from the rugged, rock-strewn, burn-scarred landscape of Central Otago. The region is renowned for its stunning scenery of rugged mountains and picturesque lakes. Rockburn produce premium wines of intense varietal characteristics in Central Otago, the world’s most southerly grape-growing region. Central Otago, at 45 degress south, has a climate similar to Burgundy, France, the great Pinot Noir producing region of the world. All Rockburn wines exhibit strong varietal characteristics, highlighted in the white varieties by crisp acids, which are typical of the region. It has also become apparent that like Burgundy there are distinct ‘appellations’ within Central Otago. One has only to taste a Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir to experience its perfumed nose, typically violets, and earthy, forest floor sensations on the palate. Compare this with a Lowburn/Bannockburn Pinot Noir with its darker colour and fuller, sweeter fruit. For this reason, to fully exploit the potential of the region, it is a distinct advantage to have vineyards in different ‘appellations’.

WINERY

After leasing premises at the industrial McNulty Road site for 10 years, 2016 was the first vintage we completed at Rockburn's new winery in Ripponvale Road in Cromwell. The new semi-rural site comes with stunning-views of the rugged Central Otago landscape and a hectare of land to allow further expansion in the future. Winemaker Malcolm Francis designed the operation of the new winery to best reflect his own philosophies: to treat the fruit (and wine) as gently as possible, with minimum interference and maximum ease of use.

VINEYARDS

Central Otago’s wine industry symbolises success and its continental climate rivals Europe’s best. The region has a long viticultural tradition, and French immigrant Jean Desire Feraud, who pioneered grape-growing and wine production over 100 years ago, left a strong legacy. Today more than 1,000 hectares of grapes flourish in unique growing conditions. The skills of talented winemakers produce quality boutique wines to compete with the country’s finest. The region has a semi-continental climate and experiences greater daily and seasonal extremes of temperature unknown elsewhere in New Zealand. The area’s unique soil types have a marked influence on vine growth, the flavours of the grapes and the resulting wine.

Rockburn vineyards are bounded on the west by mountains on whose seaward slopes are rain forests, which receive 5000mm of rain a year. To the east is a barren, moon-Iike landscape that receives less than 25mm of rain a year. Situated between these extremes are our vineyards that produce not only Pinot Noir of stunning quality but also medal winning Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Rosé and Fumé Blanc. Handpicked grapes from Rockburn'S Parkburn Vineyard in Lowburn and their Gibbston Valley Back Road Vineyard reflect the unique terroir. The resulting wines fully express the complex subtleties available only in New Zealand’s one true continental climate.

MALCOLM REES-FRANCIS (WINEMAKER)

Being born into a South Canterbury sheep-farming family meant Malcolm knew he didn’t want to be a farmer for the rest of his life, so it was off to Otago University to study Microbiology. Four years later Malcolm knew he didn’t want to be a scientist for the rest of his life, but hey winemaking sounds like fun... Seven years in the industry later he discovered his Great-Great-Great-Grandfather was from a winegrowing family in the Azores; and his draw to the world of wine suddenly made a lot of sense. Equally strong was the draw to the dusty tors and burns of Central Otago, where Pinot Noir rules with an iron fist (although it wears a velvet glove). First as Assistant Winemaker at lauded Felton Road, and now as solo Winemaker at Rockburn, Malcolm continues a tradition of excellence, with the occasional break for rocking out in the barrel hall.

  • 97/100 Points & 5 Stars - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit (2021 vintage)
  • 96/100 Points - Candice Chow, Raymond Chan Wine Reviews (2021 vintage)
  • 5 Stars & 96/100 Points - Bob Campbell, The Real Review (2021 vintage)
  • 5 Stars & 95/100 Points - Cameron Douglas (2021 vintage)
  • 93/100 Points - Rebecca Gibb, Vinous (2021 vintage)
  • 18.5/20 Points - Joelle Thomson (2021 vintage)
  • 92/100 Points - James Suckling (2021 vintage)
  • 90/100 Points - 2023 Decanter Wine Awards, London (2021 vintage)


       

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