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Available in cartons of six
An assemblage of fruit grown to several elite Central Otago sites, the estate flagship barrel selection, from the Sam Neill family vineyards, normally a selection picked off Gibbston First Paddock, Bannockburn's Fusilier and Earnscleugh's Red Bank. A charming effort in Burgundian styling, unequivocally world class, artisanally crafted Central Otago Pinot Noir. Each block and clone are picked and fermented separately, the final wine is assembled just before bottling. Small batch? You bet, a mere few hundred dozen are made each year. The original Sam Neill vineyard at the heart of Gibbston Valley. Low yielding vines allow grapes to slowly ripen in the classic cool climate manner. Vineyards are high density, planted to a range of clonal material and intensively man handled, nearly all vineyard practices are carried out by hand, to the exception of compost spreading. Ferments include a component of whole bunches treated to oak barrel vinification. Musts are cold soaked for several days and hand plunged throughout the ferments. Two Paddocks spends time macerating on skins, extracting tannin, colour and aromatics before being gently drained and pressed to small French oak barriques for a year.
TASTING NOTESVibrant ruby color. Lifted perfumed nose, this wine exhibits dark cherry and plum fruit characters, with a concentrated herbal complexity, depth and persistence before a distinctive lengthy savoury finish. Classic Central Otago Pinot, complex yet elegant and well structured, full of wild spices. violets and luscious fruit. |