Pinot noir de Central Otago, le vignoble le plus austral
11 bouteilles, du pinot noir de Bannockburn au chardonnay d'altitudeWinters that freeze, dry and bright summers, cool nights in the middle of February: this corner of the South Island is the only one in the country to live to the rhythm of a semi-continental climate, sheltered from the rain by the Southern Alps. Pinot Noir ripens slowly here, under intense ultraviolet radiation, which thickens the skins of the berries and feeds the colour.
The result is reds of black fruit, thyme and spice, drawn tight by a lively acidity. This section follows the estates that made the district's name, from Bannockburn to Wanaka, with a few chardonnays and a riesling alongside.
Peregrine Estate - Pinot Noir 2015
A Pinot Noir that combines purity and elegance, concentration and length.
Rippon - Mature Vine Pinot Noir 2017
An elegant and refined Pinot noir, grown on the banks of Lake Wanaka
Felton Road - Cornish Point Pinot Noir 2023
A precise and intense Pinot Noir from Central Otago, combining purity of fruit, finesse of tannins and aromatic depth.
Felton Road - Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2023
A precise and harmonious Pinot Noir from Bannockburn, where the purity of the fruit meets the elegance of the Central Otago terroir.
Felton Road - MacMuir Pinot Noir 2023
A precise and profound Pinot Noir from Central Otago, combining freshness, fine tannins and aromatic intensity.
Felton Road - Bannockburn Chardonnay 2023
A precise and vibrant Chardonnay from Bannockburn, where the purity of the fruit meets a chiseled minerality.
Felton Road - Bannockburn Riesling 2024
A precise and crystalline Bannockburn Riesling, where sharp freshness meets the purity of the Central Otago terroir.
Felton Road - Block 2 Chardonnay 2023
A Chardonnay with a precise and saline terroir, where the purity of the fruit meets the depth of Bannockburn.
Felton Road - Calvert Pinot Noir 2023
A precise and elegant Pinot Noir from Central Otago, where the purity of the fruit meets the finesse of the Bannockburn terroir.
Felton Road - Block 3 Pinot Noir 2023
A precise and profound Pinot Noir from Bannockburn, combining aromatic intensity and silky texture.
Felton Road - Block 5 Pinot Noir 2023
A Pinot Noir from Bannockburn that is both precise and profound, which finely expresses the singularity of Block 5.
The sub-districts, from the coolest to the warmest
An hour of driving separates the northern vines from the southern ones, and the relief changes everything along the way. Each district moves at its own pace: almost three weeks separate the harvest in Gibbston from the one in Bendigo, and that gap can be read in the glass.
| Le sous-secteur | Altitude et exposition | Le profil du pinot | Le domaine du rayon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bannockburn, rive sud de la Kawarau | 220 à 350 m, coteaux exposés plein nord, loess et schiste | Fruit noir dense, thym, tanin serré, longue allonge | Felton Road Bannockburn Pinot Noir69 € la bouteille, à l'unité |
| Gibbston, la gorge encaissée | 320 à 420 m, secteur le plus frais, maturité la plus tardive | Cerise rouge, fleur, tanin fin, acidité haute | Peregrine Estate Pinot noir45 € la bouteille, à l'unité |
| Cromwell et Lowburn, au bord du lac Dunstan | 200 à 300 m, terrasses alluviales, lumière réverbérée par l'eau | Fruit rouge charnu, bouche large, tanin souple | Burn Cottage, planté en 2002 et mené en biodynamie depuis l'origine |
| Bendigo and Pisa, on the east bank | 250 à 400 m, pentes de schiste face au nord, le plus chaud | Fruit noir confit, épices douces, structure ample | Two of the three districts blended by Peregrine Estate |
| Wanaka, on the slopes above the lake | 300 à 340 m, saison courte, quartz, argile et galets | Parfum floral, corps délié, acidité vive | Rippon, quatre générations de la famille Mills au bord de l'eau |
Felton Road vinifies each plot on its own: Cornish Point, born on silty-sandy soils loaded with stones, and Calvert, on loess laid in fine layers over glacial gravels, are both €86 a bottle, in packs of 2. To compare with the country's other great Pinot district, head to Martinborough.
L'âge du pinot, du fruit noir au sous-bois
The high acidity and fine tannin of these wines open up a long trajectory. The listings in this section give five to ten years of ageing potential on Felton Road's cuvées. Here is how the glass shifts over the years, with the right move at each stage.
| L'âge de la bouteille | Ce que le verre annonce | Carafe et température | L'accord du moment |
|---|---|---|---|
| L'année de la mise en vente | Cerise noire, violette, tanin serré, bouche compacte | Une heure en carafe, service à quinze degrés | Magret de canard, betterave rôtie au four |
| Deux à quatre ans | Le fruit se resserre, le thym et l'épice montent | Quarante minutes en carafe, quinze degrés | Roast pigeon, cep risotto |
| Cinq à sept ans | Bouche ouverte, fruit noir fondu, tanin soyeux | Vingt minutes d'air, quinze à seize degrés | Milk-fed lamb, duck with cherries |
| Huit à dix ans | Sous-bois, cuir, écorce d'orange, matière enrobée | Ouverture au moment du service, seize degrés | Gibier à plume, morilles à la crème |
| Au-delà de dix ans | Truffe, champignon sec, fruit confit, tanin fondu | Bouteille debout la veille, carafe au dernier moment | Lièvre à la royale, fromages affinés |
The whites follow the same line: the Bannockburn Chardonnay, at €54 a bottle in packs of 2, is served at around 11 °C and gains three years in the cellar; the Bannockburn Riesling, at the same price and 11.5% abv, is ready now at 9 °C. The Pinot Noir page allows the comparison with Burgundy and Oregon.
Which bottle to enter the region with
Sept flacons et une piste de cépage, du premier pinot au bloc vinifié à part.
Poser le ton de la région
A blend from Bendigo, Pisa and Gibbston, thirty per cent whole bunches and ten months in old barrels: cherry, wild strawberry and leather.
Peregrine Estate Pinot noir 2015 · 45 € la bouteille, à l'unitéLa référence de Bannockburn
Coteaux exposés nord sur loess et schiste, biodynamie certifiée, levures indigènes : le fruit noir profond et le tanin fin qui ont fait la réputation du secteur.
Felton Road Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2023 · 69 € la bouteille, à l'unitéUn pinot qui joue la finesse
Loess et limons fins sur graviers glaciaires, fermentation spontanée, pigeages modérés : une bouche élégante et droite, à 13,5 degrés d'alcool.
Felton Road Calvert Pinot Noir 2023 · 86 € la bouteille, par lot de 2Goûter une parcelle entièrement égrappée
Old silty-clay terraces, fruit one hundred per cent destemmed, stainless-steel tanks and native yeasts: aromatic intensity and a silky texture.
Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2023 · 112 € la bouteille, à l'unitéComparing with whole bunches
Sols limono-argileux profonds sur graviers de schiste, part de grappes entières à la cuve, pigeages doux : plus de profondeur et de relief.
Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir 2023 · 112 € la bouteille, à l'unitéDécouvrir le chardonnay d'altitude
Pressé en grappes entières, fermenté en fût de chêne français sur levures indigènes, malo complète : tension minérale et finale saline.
Felton Road Bannockburn Chardonnay 2023 · 54 € la bouteille, par lot de 2A taut white for the table
Pressurage en grappes entières, fermentation lente à basse température en cuve inox : agrumes cristallins, acidité tranchante et 11,5 degrés d'alcool.
Felton Road Bannockburn Riesling 2024 · 54 € la bouteille, par lot de 2Suivre le cépage ailleurs
The selection page brings together the Pinot Noirs of Burgundy, Oregon and the antipodes: the same grape, read by opposite climates.
Page du rayon · Pinot noir
De la ruée vers l'or à la vigne
In 1862, the discovery of gold in the Clutha drew tens of thousands of prospectors, from Europe and then from China, into a valley empty until then. Two years later a Frenchman settled at Clyde, Jean Desiré Feraud, planted vines above the river and won medals as far away as Sydney. Once the gold ran out, the vine faded for nearly a century.
It came back in the 1970s, when a few families sensed that the forty-fifth parallel south, the shelter of the Southern Alps and the swing between day and night suited Pinot Noir. The Mills family planted at Wanaka, others followed at Gibbston and then at Bannockburn. It took thirty years for the case to be proved.
Comment on choisit
We taste every cuvée before listing it, and two things decide here: the freshness that holds beneath the ripe fruit, and the finesse of the tannin on the finish. A Pinot that banks everything on colour and extraction is passed over. We then follow the estates that pick by hand, ferment with native yeasts and keep a light touch with new oak.
L'équipe du Baroudeur du Vin
Ce qu'on nous demande sur Central Otago
Pourquoi ces bouteilles partent-elles souvent par lot de deux ?
The estates of Central Otago make little and ship to the other side of the world. The two-bottle pack keeps the price tight despite the distance, and it lets you open one while keeping the other in the cellar. The price shown is that of the bottle, and the sales format sits right beside it. Several cuvées are still offered as single bottles, at Felton Road as at Peregrine Estate.
Are Shiraz and Syrah the same grape variety?
Yes, one grape under two names. Australia and South Africa write Shiraz, France and New Zealand write Syrah. The word above all announces a style: Shiraz for a sun-drenched, jammy, generous version, Syrah for a peppery, taut reading. Central Otago remains Pinot Noir country, but the Syrah page gathers both schools from one country to another.
Qu'est-ce qui distingue ce pinot de celui de Martinborough ?
Climate, above all. Martinborough lives under maritime influence, swept by the winds of Cook Strait: its Pinot comes out tight, spicy, with firm tannin. Central Otago, cut off from the sea by the Southern Alps, has a semi-continental regime, with hot dry summers and cold nights. The fruit turns black there and the matter gains in density. See Martinborough.
Pourquoi parle-t-on du vignoble le plus austral du monde ?
The vines of Bannockburn and Alexandra lie beyond the forty-fifth parallel south, closer to the pole than any other commercial wine region. At that latitude, the summer days stay long and ultraviolet radiation remains intense. The skin of the berries thickens to protect itself, which brings Pinot Noir more colour, more tannin and more aroma.
Que change l'altitude d'un sous-secteur à l'autre ?
Every hundred metres delays ripening. Gibbston, the highest and the most hemmed in, picks up to three weeks after Bendigo and gives perfumed wines, light in body, very fresh. Bendigo, on its north-facing schist slopes, pushes the fruit towards black and jammy. The table of sub-regions above sums up these differences for each lieu-dit.
Que veut dire vinifier par parcelle chez Felton Road ?
Each block comes into the winery separately and follows its own path, under certified biodynamics and native yeasts. The Block 3 is fully destemmed and ferments in stainless-steel tank; the Block 5 keeps a share of whole bunches. Both are €112 a bottle, sold singly, and are well worth tasting side by side.
Combien de temps se garde un pinot de Central Otago ?
The listings in this section give five to ten years on Felton Road's cuvées, and the single-plot selections often hold longer. The wine goes through a closed phase around its third year, then opens again on forest floor and spice. Keep the bottle lying down, at around 12 °C, away from the light. The ageing table gives the detail band by band.
Faut-il carafer ces vins ?
Yes for young vintages, which gain from an hour of air to soften: the tannin melts in and the fruit broadens. From eight years on, open the bottle at the moment of serving, or give it a very short spell in a decanter to leave the sediment at the bottom. Serve at 15–16 °C, in a large glass.
Are there any whites in Central Otago?
Yes, in small quantities, and they are worth the detour. Felton Road presses its chardonnays as whole bunches and ferments them in French oak barrels on native yeasts, for a saline, taut palate. Its Bannockburn riesling, vinified in stainless-steel tank at low temperature, keeps a razor-sharp acidity and comes in at 11.5% abv, which makes it an ideal white for the table.
Par quelle bouteille commencer ?
Take the Peregrine Estate Pinot Noir, at €45 a bottle and available singly: a blend of three sub-regions that sets the tone of the region. Then move on to Felton Road's Bannockburn, at €69 a bottle, to measure what a plot-by-plot reading brings.