The Last Chance Pinot Noir - 2002

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