Complex and savoury with attractive fruit purity, the Rippon Mature Vine Pinot Noir is a blend of Rippons oldest vines. It is the farm voice, a wine of superb structure, depth and typicity.

2014 is the inaugural release of Colleens Paddock Pinot Noir. It features a restrained, brooding and beguiling nose with hints of cranberry, sour cherry, wild raspberry, earth, stalks and charry oak. The aristocratic palate weaves an uncommon melange of toffee fruits, herbal flavours and savoury elements through fine, integrated tannins and delivers an elegant, luscious, velvety mouth feel. It combines lightness with richness and density with great length and persistence of flavour.

The Last Chance is a beautifully sited small terrace perched above the Earnscleugh Valley, carefully planted with well-tended Burgundian clone pinot noir. It is one of a small cluster of the worlds most southerly vineyards and takes its name from the watercourse that runs through its heart, hand-dug by gold miners in the 1860s The Last Chance. The soils are raw schist gravels. The Last Chance Pinot Noir is hand picked and sorted in the vineyard. One-third whole-bunch natural fermentation in a 3.5 tonne wooden vat. Five-day cold soak. Post fermentation transferred to medium and light toast French barriques for 11 months maturation. One-third new wood and the balance in second and third fill barrels. Light filtration prior to bottling. The Lasdt Chance Pinot Noir typically shows thyme, wild flower, red fruit and spiciness on the nose leading to a complex palate showing great coverage, elegance and length.

The First Paddock is Two Paddocks original vineyard. Planted in 1993, it is among Central Otagos oldest vineyards, superbly situated in upper Gibbston, meticulously tended and planted to carefully selected Burgundian Pinot Noir vines clones. This wine is typically sourced from the same 25 rows of Clone 5, planted in 1993. Hand harvested and sorted then a 50% whole bunch indigenous ferment in a dedicated First Paddock French oak vat. Matured in 30% new French oak with the balance in older wood for an extended 14 months of barrel maturation. The First Paddock Pinot Noir is typically dark, brooding and spicy, with dried herb aromatics and a textured palate showing brightness, finesse and elegance on a long finish.

The Fusilier Vineyard is named in honour of proprietor Sam Neills father, Major Dermot Neill, a soldier in the Royal Irish Fusilier Regiment for 20 years before returning home to Dunedin, New Zealand, where he ran the family Wine & Spirit business, Neill & Co. Planted entirely in 2000, The Fusilier is 5.6 hectares of Pinot Noir on rolling northerly facing terraces at the western end of Felton Road and bordered by the vineyard of the same name. Soils consist of deep alluvial fans made up of varying depths of silt, sand and gravel layering, all derived from mountainous raw schist parent material. Grapes for The Fusilier are hand picked and sorted in the vineyard, naturally fermented with one-third whole-bunches in a 3.5 tonne wooden vat, followed by a five-day cold soak. The wine is then transferred to medium and light toast French barriques (one-third new) for 11 months maturation. Light filtration prior to bottling. Fusilier Pinots typically show spicy red fruit, dried herb and wildflower aromatics leading to a feminine, lithe and textural driven wine.

Unmistakably cool climate pinot. Intense yet elegant with velvety tannins and balanced acidity pulling the flavours right through the palate. Ripe fruit, spiciness, savoury aromas satisfying palate weight, minerality, velvet tannins. Extraordinary persistence. Elegance