A Not Serious Spotlight on Central Otago Pinot Noir
READ TIME:
Two generous pours and cheese board (20-25 minutes)
THE CENTRAL DOZEN ‘23
When Carolyn Murray from Central Otago Winegrowers Association (COWA) asked if I wanted to receive a box of 12 Pinot Noir wines to taste, it was pretty easy to accept. No sooner had the ‘woosh’ of the departing ‘yes please’ email left my eardrums, I was overcome by two emotions: imposter syndrome and the guilt of potential waste.
SERIOUSLY, YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT NOW?
Who am I to validate the efforts of some of our nation’s top producers?
After a little meditation on the purpose of Not Serious Wine Chats I decided, actually — this is exactly what Not Serious Wine Chats is all about. I’m a wine drinker, making me as qualified as the next guy to slug a goodly sip and think about how a wine makes me feel. Also COWA had already enlisted the very qualified taste buds connected to the expert cerebral cortex of Emma Jenkins, Master of Wine, to select the Central Dozen, so really — the pressure was off.
Twelve wineries were about to send me, and other wine media folk around Aotearoa, a bottle of their beautifully crafted, world class wine — for free. As the daughter of winemakers, I know wineries are constantly, daily, all-the-bloody-time asked to supply wine for nout, nada, nothing, all in the name of exposure, marketing, brand awareness, charity support or some celebrity’s birthday party. It gives me a rash to participate in all the taking.
Of course, there’s an exchange here — you are reading this article, after all. I hope by reading these words you learn a bit more about some fabulous producers and get curious about the most excellent and beautiful Central Otago wine region.
NERDY WINE-HARDS AND OTHER DRINKING PARTNERS
Wine, as I Not Seriously see it, is built for frivolous chats with friends and enjoyable, and/or robust analysis with like-minded nerdy wine-hards, all while making your ploughman’s platter overperform. If I was going to address the guilt of opening twelve bottles of seriously good wine in solitude, I needed company.
I packed up the jalope with the precious cargo of booze and headed over the hill from Raglan to Hamilton to sit, sip and dissect the whole kit and caboodle with hospo pals who would pick up what Central Otago was putting down.
What follows is a refined summary of the chinwags and chortles, the furrowed brows and disagreements, and the overall good bants that ensued when I shared the Central Dozen — 2023 edition.
THE REFINED SUMMARY
Central Dozen ‘23: (links located at footer)
Akarua, Amisfield, Brennan, Burn Cottage, Felton Road, Grasshopper Rock
Moko Hills, Monte Christo, Peregrine, Pyramid Valley, Quartz Reef, Rippon
Tasting location:
Hamilton Hotel, Kirikiriroa Hamilton. Newly refurbished and looking like a right bobby dazzler, this joint covers all bases. We took the lush, private dining room for a test drive.
Tasting Squad:
Kieran Clarkin — Amphora Wine Bar
Mat Pedley, Jono Knapp, John Moughan & Alex Hudson — Overproof (Mr Pickles, Reggies, Last Place, Neat, Wonder Horse, Hamilton Hotel)
Morv McAuley — Tradecraft & Not Serious Wine Chats
Wallet Burn:
Retail prices ranged from $40 through to $140.
HOW DOES ONE NOT SERIOUSLY TASTE A DOZEN WINES?
There was a bit of a discussion on how to start this tasting. To have some fun, one thought was to put them in the order of a road trip. Like, you’ve deplaned in Queenstown and you’re on the ultimate Central Otago wine tasting tour. But, we couldn’t decide if you’d head over the Crown Range first or last. Do you start or finish with a delicious glass of Rippon? It’s a valid point.
The Rippon Pinot Noir is a wine made from the precious older vines whose roots reach deep beneath one of the regions most established wineries. Perched above Lake Wānaka with Ruby Island out the front, providing some important weather protection, Rippon wines are grown biodynamically and organically. How a wine can be this dense and this bright in one mouthful defies me but the Rippon Mature Vine Pinot Noir 2023 was definitely that. Winemaker Nick Mills knows his place, and while he leaves the vines to do the storytelling, he sure knows where to place the parchment. I reckon Nick is one of our most committed natural winemakers. Every. Single. Glass. of wine that he makes, emphatically starts by making great soil. (see film at the end of article)
Another idea was to taste in the order of ranked label design — most to least preferred. Difficult when none of us could agree on which label we liked the most and Kieran was quickly disqualified after he admitted a pal had designed the Monte Christo frontage. Things had gotten very not serious. We defaulted to alphabetical, as outlined on the information sent with the case.
We popped a small amount of wine from each winery into a glass and placed it in front of the relevant bottle. That then became the ‘aromatics only’ vessel to be shared by all. I found that proved really helpful as it acted as a bit of an ‘aroma library’ that I could go back to when I started to doubt my ability to describe each wine individually. I can start to overthink when tasting a lot of wines and this was like a quick sniff and a reset.
Onwards.
THE YEAR, THE LAND, THE MAKER AND THE TASTE TEST
After a group round of sniffing, we poured the first taste — Akarua Pinot Noir — and chatted about the 2023 vintage, the year of Cyclone Gabrielle. It had been such a massive disaster in the eastern North Island and this was front of mind as we considered wines made in that same year, but in a different, non-affected part of Aotearoa. Although, even untouched by Gabrielle, we could still decipher something of a struggle.
The Akarua Pinot Noir 2023 — the first made under new owners, Edmond de Rothschild, was bright, with red berry fruits upfront. There was a clear spine of acid that, with a couple more years in the cellar, would give the wine time to mature a little. The result? A totally smoking glass of Pinot Noir worth the wait.
According to the notes that came with the box, the 2023 vintage in Central Otago wasn’t a total dreamboat but, tasting these wines, it was clear the season had been translated by extremely experienced winemakers who know what their little slice of paradise does under pressure.
NOSTALGIA HAS A FLAVOUR. WHO KNEW?
These twelve wines were originally selected through blind tasting. Emma and her cohort tasted the wines on merit alone, while we tasted with the brand and bottle in front of us. It’s a really different experience. As human beings, sometimes we just can’t see past the wrapping paper.
I struggled initially with the Brennan B2 label, but that changed when I suggested there was something about it that reminded me of the ski posters of the 1990s. Whether the owners intended it or not, I channelled my inner Annelise Coberger, and became wrapped in a soporific nostalgia. It felt lovely and made the Brennan B2 Pinot Noir 2023 taste joyously familiar. The subregion where Brennan vines grow is Gibbston and even that felt like a retro hook to the OG days of CO winemaking.
DO MORE PESOS SPELL PRESTIGE?
As wino/hospo folk, we all knew Felton Road well and when I challenged the group on which wine they thought was the most accessible cost wise and which was the most expensive, everyone automatically knew the Felton would likely be the most spenny. In this line up, that hunch…um…paid off.
We chatted about how knowing the price carried weight. Just like heavy cutlery supposedly makes food taste better, at just under $140 per bottle, let’s just say we all enjoyed the Felton Road. Here’s the reality though — the wine is worth it. It absolutely, utterly is worth every cent.
Felton Road, also biodynamic and organic, focus on the minutiae where it truly matters and it shows in the glass. Don’t expect to fan girl Felton on your Insta though. Social media is not their bag. Their reputation has been built over decades of sticking to their knitting, and as it turns out, that’s exactly how you start a cult.
But you don’t have to spend your life savings to savour seriously good Central Otago Pinot. The Moko Hills — equally enjoyed by the squad — rips in at just under $60, which given the quality, feels doable. Maybe not as your daily dinner drop, but delish and worth spending some time, and a few more dollars, on.
It’s still a price point that a lot of ‘not serious but wine curious’ punters might baulk at. It’s a chunk. I get it. I can only urge people to look at the value they get from the money they spend. Who made the wine? What are their values? Do they align with yours? To paraphrase Nick Mills, who once paraphrased Wendell Berry, drinking wine is an agricultural act. You become a participant in the land that produced the wine you choose to drink. Your choices, wine included, shape the future of farming.
Moko Hills Winemaker, Donald van der Westhuizen, brings a background in ecosystem ecology (the dude has a Masters) to his winemaking lens, making him overqualified to corral all of nature’s microscopic gifts into a glass of something super tasty. There isn’t a lot of the Moko Hills Pinot Noir 2023 — just 120 cases. Get in.
DIRT NERDS AND BUG LOVERS
While we’re at it, organic wines rock. As of 2025, 30% of Central Otago’s vineyard area is certified organic, the highest proportion of any wine region in New Zealand. In this dozen alone, seven out of the twelve wines are certified organic, with another two in conversion.
At an organic wine tasting last year, I felt despondent when asked things like “organic wines don’t taste as good, do they?” or “isn’t it true that organic wines don’t cellar well?”. True story. I died inside a little. I can only be encouraged by reminding y’all that this — mostly organic — dozen was selected by blind tasting, thereby putting to bed the taste query and as for the cellaring — well, that’s largely up to the person doing the cellaring.
It’s wonderful to see Central Otago really getting onboard with organics. Quaff a cup of Claire Mulholland’s Burn Cottage Pinot Noir 2023 and you’ll get it. The effort made to keep the soil alive at that joint is deeply, transparently, honestly expressed in the glass. Red berries, earthiness, a little spice, structure and just the right amount of acid texture to make your manchego taste even more magical — and certified organic with the cert for biodynamics on its way. C’mon people — this schizz is the bizz.
SHOULD YOU MINGLE, OR STAY SINGLE?
Some bottles in this case of cracking quality wine have been made from one vineyard — The Single — and some from selecting fruit from multiple sites and sub-regions — The Mingle. Capisce?
In a season of unexpected variables, not every vineyard block encounters harvest with the same confidence. Some sites hold acidity better, some find ripeness earlier, some simply dodge the worst of the weather. Working across multiple vineyards gives the winemaker more cards to play — the ability to select the parcels that thrived, then blend percentages together in pursuit of balance, texture and deliciousness.
The Monte Christo Pinot Noir 2023, made from fruit across three sub-regions and five vineyards, delivered juicy blackberry fruitiness while retaining a lovely spine of tannins, giving it that all-important, very-quaffable balance tick. The squad gave a pleasing sigh. Tasty.
The Peregrine Pinot Noir 2023 is 50% Bendigo fruit and 50% Pisa fruit. As the crow flies, the sites aren’t far apart, Bendigo on the eastern side of Lake Dunstan and Pisa on the western, but if we’re talking terroir then mate, it’s like chalk and cheese. Reflecting on the structure, grippy bright tannins and sage-like flavours, it’s fair to say winemaker Nadine Cross — at the helm of Peregrine since 2010 — knows the secret to these two sites, understands the style for which the winery is best known, and how to make it. This wine wooed and we all went back for a second helping.
LITTLE PARCELS AND BIG PERSONALITIES
When you see Central Otago Pinot Noir on a wine list, it’s easy to assume you’ve got it down. Trust me, you don’t. With each passing year, that generalisation becomes harder to lazily lean on. The region has been showing its roots — sort of literally-ish — for a few decent vintages now.
When the region was ‘just a baby’, and young vines gave us flower bomb Pinot Noir, sure, there was broad commonality across the offering. That is no longer the case, in a strikingly absolute way.
There are glorious pockets of special little places where very specific flavour profiles have started to establish themselves. When talking about sub-regions in the context of this dozen, this is what is meant: Alexandra, Bannockburn, Bendigo, Gibbston, Lowburn, Pisa and Wānaka.
A compelling example of sub-regional prowess is Quartz Reef, of Bendigo. The story of wine in Bendigo arguably begins with Winemaker Rudi Bauer, whose 1996 plantings are generally recognised as the area’s first vineyards. Rudi is credited as one of the key figures who identified Bendigo’s vine potential. It’s sunny — long, hot days but cool nights contribute to wines of robust concentration with refined acidity. The Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 2023 is no exception, although that refined acidity proves itself a very strong bass to the fruit baritone in this iteration.
Alexandra is fascinating to view through the wine glass. Of these sub-regions it’s the hottest, the coldest and the driest. It’s all very continental and you can see how French immigrant Jean Désiré Féraud took one look at the joint in the 1860s and thought bugger the gold rush, this place can grow grapes. The very spot where Féraud first made his moonshine is Monte Christo Winery — and you can visit the historic cellar door when you’re there.
The characteristics of this special little pocket of Central O-to-the-Go showed up in the Grasshopper Rock Pinot Noir 2023. This wine was possibly the most explosive aromatically of the wines. Considering the temperatures Alexandra can achieve, it’s no wonder there was an olfactory waft of warmth.
Where Alexandra feels like a hot pocket of desert that finds respite only on the fringes of the Clutha River, the vineyards planted in Pisa, where fruit for the Amisfield Pinot Noir 2023 was sourced, are located next to Lake Dunstan. That matters because it changes temperatures. This vintage of Amisfield Pinot spent 16 months in oak barrel (matched only by the Felton Road) and the extended time in oak can be tasted. Dark intensity, dry with ‘mineral meets hillside herb’, the wine is a lovely statement of this sub-region.
Just along the road from Pisa, in the little elevated valley of Lowburn that I know well, rests the vines that birthed the Pyramid Valley Snakes Tongue Pinot Noir 2023. There’s a lot to this label — both in design and in inherited mana. When the Lowburn vineyard was acquired, it added not just a sub-regional statement to the Pyramid Valley portfolio but a dual regional element to the total brand offering — as much of the wine under this label is from seriously sound sites based in North Canterbury. Notwithstanding, winemaker Huw Kinch appears to have fallen head first into the wild thyme and florals found in the lovely Lowburn valley and you’ll find them in the glass.
If there’s one thing this Central Dozen line-up has made clear, it’s that Central Otago Pinot Noir is anything but a single conversation.
Tasting these wines by sub-region through the lens of the 2023 vintage is like seeking that sweet spot where the Venn diagram circles overlap in a pleasing point of precision.
It’s all Pinot Noir. It’s all from Central Otago but, trust me, all of these wines had their own personality. It’s testament to the makers, and I can’t overstate how incredible it is to compare these wines in this way.
TAKE A FINAL SIP
Looking back, I wish I had decanted all the wines prior to our tasting. There was a tightness, and a restraint underpinned by acid that was surely a statement of ‘23. Given a little time to exhale, and paired with a plate of quality charcuterie — we’d be hunkering down for a dangerously long session of getting very not serious, as we tasted these wines (although from memory, Kieran was the only one with the day off). All the wines will only get better with more time in the cellar. What a bloody treat to look forward to.
On behalf of my fellow tasting tribe, thank you to the makers. Bravo the lot of ya.
Dear reader, thank you for making it to the end of the page. I urge you to visit this place, and call in on these wineries. Until then, pour another glass of beautiful Pinot Noir and plant your peepers on the short film below, Rippon Horizons. It’s one of my all time favourite vids about wine. It’s a perfect conclusion to this article, and feels like a culmination of the efforts of these growers and makers, and while a little serious, it’s truly wonderful and shared from the heart — and the beautiful region of Central Otago.
LEARN MORE & CONNECT
Central Otago Winegrowers Association
COWA
Master of Wine
Emma Jenkins
Central Dozen 2023 — wineries:
Akarua — Amisfield — Brennan — Burn Cottage — Felton Road — Grasshopper Rock
Moko Hills — Monte Christo — Peregrine — Pyramid Valley — Quartz Reef — Rippon
Author & Activist, Farmer
Wendell Berry
we’re super grateful to our pals at antipodes water company. they supply us with the good water for our chats. antipodes is an artesian water that contains no chemicals, and when you’re pouring an organic wine that is gold. the mineral content also keeps the palate fresh so you can taste the wine the way the winemaker and nature intended you to. thanks antipodes, you’re the bomb. antipodes.co.nz
