Two Paddocks Pinot Noir - 2008

About the wine

Premium Pinot Noir

A blend made from our three vineyards – Gibbston, Alexandra, and Redbank at Earnscleugh, this wine is a quintessential cool climate Pinot Noir. As in the vineyard, this wine is hand crafted using traditional methods and aged in small French oak barrels for 11 months, using a mix of older and new (30%) barrels.

Tasting Notes

Vintage Comments:

As usual the 2008 vintage provided its fair share of challenges, the most notable being early frosts in Gibbston and late frosts in the Alexandra basin. But on the whole it pretty good season with excellent fruit set followed by near perfect weather during the growing season. This is undoubtedly our biggest crop to date which in time will give us a classic Central Otago Pinot – elegant, complex and well structured full of the typical spice and fruit.

Winemaker’s Notes:

Dark black fruit, spicy notes and dried herb aromas. This is a dense, dark brooding wine showing loads of texture, depth and persistence. This wine will benefit with bottle age. Approachable in its youth, it will mellow with age. The fruit was picked by different vineyard block and by clone. Each pick was fermented separately, with the final blending taking place prior to bottling.

Harvest Dates: Alexandra/Redbank: April 21 -24, 2008 and Gibbston: 6 – 7 May, 2008

Proprietor: Sam Neill

Viticulturist: Richard Flatman&

Winemaker: Dean Shaw

Bottled: 7 -9 April 2009

Total Production: 3791 cases

Exported to:Australia, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Ontario, United States

Release Date: October 2009

Cellaring: 2009 – 2016

Reviews & Awards

Cameron Douglas MS
95 Points
An elegant and soft bouquet with florals, red apple skin, light red fruits and mineral/soil undertones; plenty of integration underway as well as youthful vibrancy. Juicy, fresh, dry, fruity and elegant; fine tannins and medium+(ish) acidity, moderate oak tones, a balanced and elegant wine with a lengthy finish and loads of complexity and charm. Drink now and through 2022.
93 Points
This wine has age and beauty. The gorgeous bouquet shows complex aromas of cherry, plum, game and floral with a hint of truffle. It's succulent and silky on the palate with excellent mid palate weight, leading to a lengthy delicious finish. Smooth, rounded and very harmonious. At its best: now to 2015.
Wall Street Journal, Will Lyon
Silky and fine
Most of the blind tasters placed this wine in Burgundy, which is certainly a credit to Sam Neill's wine-making team. We guessed correctly, first time, that it was from Central Otago. This may have been because we had a New Zealander on our team, but also the nose was ripe, with distinctive black cherry and spice aromas—an immediate giveaway. The wine is a blend from three vineyards: Gibbston, Alexandra and Redbank, and although some Central Otago Pinots can be a little too fruity for my taste, the palate here is quite silky and fine. Taking into account that Two Paddocks only began in 1993, when five acres of vineyards were planted, the future appears very promising indeed. 
Beguiling Aroma
Picnic by Two Paddocks Pinot Noir 2008 showed a transparent ruby hue in the sunlight. A wine with savoury earthy aromas, concentrated black cherry fruit and a ripe vinous complexity, it has rich cherry fruit, smoke, herbs and raspberry sweetness to the savoury finish.  A medium-bodied style with stylish French oak in harmony and an elegant touch.Two Paddocks Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008 is deeper and darker in colour with a black cherry richness to the hue. The beguiling aroma of dark cherry fruit and smoky savoury oak leads into a concentrated beautifully structured wine with a silky seamless impression across the palate. Earthy and savoury with firm yet seductive tannins; black cherry and redcurrant fruit well up from within and a hint of chocolate emerges on the lingering finish.

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Contact Us

EMAIL
[email protected]

PHONE
+64 3 449 2756

TWO PADDOCKS LTD.
PO Box 506
Alexandra 9340
Central Otago
New Zealand

License

Sale of Liquor License Ref: OF129
Licence No. 67/OFF/30/2022
Expires 24th August 2025

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