Olearia Pinot Noir 2022

Vibrant red and dark cherry, hints of boysenberry and layers of baking spices are in perfect harmony in this seamless wine. The dusty, integrated tannins add structure to the elegant middle palate and the lingering finish is filled with mineral and red fruit notes.

Olearia Lineata is a small dense tree with elegant fine branches and tiny drought­ resistant leaves that once carpeted the valley floors of Central Otago. We are fortunate to have large numbers of these officially ‘at-risk’ trees in and around both our Bendigo vineyards and continue to plant more.

This wine comes from the very steep, highest elevation parcels on our Rocky Point Vineyard, planted on mineral-rich schist soils.

The grapes for this wine were hand-picked between the 1st – 7th of April, fermented using only indigenous ‘wild’yeast, and matured for 17 months in French oak barrels.

This wine was bottled unfiltered on the 9th of October 2023

32 barrels were made.

“Flint, schist, and dried strawberries with some orange peel undertones. Briny. Perfumed. Medium body, firm and velvety with a creamy and polished finish. Shows brightness with a caressing mouthfeel. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.” James Suckling.

Winemaker’s Notes

This wine has been sourced exclusively from the highest elevation parcels on our Rocky Point Vineyard, located in the hills of Bendigo sub-region, Central Otago.

Perched at the rugged southern end of Bendigo, the Rocky Point Vineyard has some of the steepest planted blocks in Central Otago. The site rises from 226 metres to 351 metres, and walking through the vines one feels the land drop away very sharply to the blue waters of Lake Dunstan below.

The metamorphic parent material of Central Otago forms the soil here, schist rock in varying degrees of decomposition – from solid slabs to pockets of fine clay. The site has very low vigour and small yields are the norm. Despite low organic matter, the soils have high mineral content so the small vines seldom show any deficiency.

A strong focus on viticulture is the foundation of the winemaking approach. Yields are consistently managed to 30-35hl/ha or approximately 4ton/ha.

The handpicked fruit is destemmed and fermented using only indigenous ‘wild’ yeast. A key feature of our vinification is extremely low extraction, all our small open top tanks are only hand-plunged once during fermentation. The wine then spends 17 months in barrel (35% new) and undergoes indigenous malolactic fermentation. The wine is bottled unfiltered under Diam cork.

Our winemaking aims to be an exercise in understanding and translating our stunning sites into wine as accurately as possible with a minimum of winery signature.

Decant for full expression and cellar with confidence for 10+ years from vintage.    

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Details

Type:

Red

Varietal:

Pinot Noir

Region:

Central Otago

Appellation:

Bendigo

Vintage:

2022