About the wine
Single Vineyard Pinot
This Pinot Noir from our Alex Paddock, is named after the gold miners' watercourse that runs through the heart of the vineyard. Here in this small vineyard, perched in clean bright air on a promontory above the austere and beautiful Earnscleugh Valley, the grapes ripen slowly over a long season characterised by cold nights and warm long summer days. In the winery, as in the vineyard, the wine is made by hand, using traditional methods, and aged in small French oak barriques. The result is a classic Central Otago Pinot; elegant and voluptuous, with clean vivid fruit, fragrant and delicate aromatics and a seductive richness and texture.
Tasting Notes
The nose exhibits black cherry, thyme, liquorice, violet, and char-grilled capsicum. Rich voluptuous, silky, elegant texture, great mid palate strength. Tight in its youth but will open up to show greater complexity and length with age.
Vintage and Harvest Notes: An early budburst occurred around the 30th of September. It was an excellent mild spring and early summer with flowering starting in late November, two weeks earlier than usual for Central Otago. A normal Central Otago summer followed with warm, but not hot temperatures, and many cool nights leading into a late clear autumn with the normal seasonal tapering of the temperatures.
Winemakers Notes: The fruit was selectively hand-picked: 70% of the grapes were destemmed and 30% were left in whole bunches. Winemaker Dean Shaw established six blends of three clones from the Alex Paddock vineyard. The fruit was fermented for 21 to 28 days using all natural yeast. Dean then aged the wine for 11 months in French oak barrels, 25% of which were new, 75% of which were 1 to 3 years old and bottled the wine without fining, using light to medium filtration.
Drink: 2004 – 2009
Vineyard: Stephen and Jim Moffitt. Winemaker: Dean Shaw
Reviews
| Award / Reviewer | Date | Rating | Review |
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| Bob Campbell MW, Australian Gourmet Traveller WINE | Sep 2004 | Rich and silken wine | |
Intensely fruity pinot noir with dense black cherry, floral, farmyard and ripe plum flavours, plus a seasoning of dried herbs. Rich and silken wine with a long finish and a firm tannic backbone that hints at cellaring potential |
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| Home & Entertaining (New Zealand), Bob Campbell MW | Jul 2004 | Gold 94 Points | |
From actor Sam Neill's two vineyards near Alexandra [he has a third in Gibbston], this intensely fruity Pinot Noir has dense black cherry, floral, farmyard and ripe plum flavours, plus a seasoning of dried herbs. Rich and silken, with a long finish and a firm tannic backbone that hints at cellering potential. |
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| Decanter (Australia), Bob Campbell MW | Dec 2003 | ||
The Top 50 New World Reds The Top 10 New Zealand Reds Well-known actor Sam Neill now owns three vineyards in Central Otago. Neill's Pinot Noir sells instantly upon release thanks as much to his stature as a actor as the quality of his wines. This dense, velvety red has seductively sweet berry and dried spice flavours. Sealed with a screwcap to give at least six years¹ cellaring potential.
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| The Independent, Bob Campbell MW | Jun 2003 | Impressively dense | |
An impressively dense wine with a velvet texture. Two Paddocks is the reasonably priced wine of actor Sam Neill. Previous vintages have sold within day of release on the strength of the Neill fame. The latest release deserves to sell rapidly on the basis of high quality at a fair price.
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| Otago Daily Times, Charmian Smith | Jun 2003 | Generous up-front fr | |
Is fragrant with lovely, generous up-front fruit, with a hint of licorice, spice and cherry plum, and a crisp finish.
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