Rockburn Estate Pinot Noir Central Otago 2020

We’ve been wanting to bring our Pinot drinkers something new, and we found one we love from someplace exciting: the world’s southernmost wine region! This smooth, savory bottle from Central Otago, New Zealand has a sparkly 93 point score and is very well priced.

See the jagged upper edge of the label? It’s a reference to the drama of the landscape. The Central Otago region is bounded to the west by mountain slopes that qualify as rainforest – soaking up a hard-to-fathom 200 inches of rain a year – and to the east by a parched moonscape that gets less than ONE inch. Between these extremes sits Rockburn, which was founded in 1991 when heart surgeon Richard Bunton planted a hobby vineyard. 

Fast forward to today, and Rockburn is turning out some of the area’s most consistently appealing wines. Wine Enthusiast was smitten with this 2020: “The mouthfeel is smooth and satiny. Flavor, tannin and acidity meld together and make for seamless sipping. This is an understated and utterly lovely Pinot…” Their 93 point score feels spot on, and the screwcap also notched 92 points from Decanter and Wine Advocate. 

We were immediately seduced by notes of mocha and seared mushroom infusing satiny sheets of black cherry and dark raspberry. Effortless, savory layers roll across the tongue, tinged with pretty violet and closing with a subtle prickle that brings to mind cherry cola poured from a glass bottle. Just…mmm! Comforting like Russian River, but truly transporting to somewhere new. We want a bowl of French lentil soup and a few slices of room-temperature Gruyère on the side, with walnut sourdough bread.

The winemaker is Malcolm Rees-Francis, who cut his teeth at the venerable Felton Road and further honed his skills across multiple Oregon harvests. He sourced the fruit from two of Rockburn’s own vineyards, and let the wine age ten months in 33% new French oak. Central Otago has a semi-continental climate – meaning not much moderating ocean influence – so the vines see frosty-cold winters, hot summers, dramatic day-to-night temperature swings, and long, dry autumns. Yes, there are a handful of experimental plantings farther south on the globe, but for a truly established wine region producing serious Pinot at the edge of the map, Central Otago is where it’s at. This is going to taste great through 2030, so get extra and go on a little adventure whenever you want.