Olearia Pinot Noir 2023

The flagship wine from this extremely steep, schist-based, stunning site combines the highest-elevation parcels to make the best overall representation of this unique place.

A great expression of our Rocky Point Vineyard, the 2023 Olearia has the classic energy and vibrant aromatics of this steep, schist driven site. Florals and crunchy red fruits open up to a palate that combines bright fruit with spice and linear mineral structure. This wine is drinking extremely well on release but will age slowly towards peak drinking with even more mineral complexity.

Cellaring: Decant for full expression in its youth and cellar with confidence for 10+ years from vintage.

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, 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.

We had a mild finish to winter and a stable spring with no frost in the region after the first week of October when the vines were barely getting underway. There was regular small rainfall through November which gave the vines energy for flowering and fruit set in December when the weather was both warmer and dry. January and February were warm and very dry until late February when the weather cooled thanks to a rain event that fell as snow on the mountains. March was mild but not hot with only five days reaching 25degC early in the month. From the middle of March until the end of harvest in April, the weather remained stable allowing us the flexibility to pick on flavour and ripeness. The grapes held good acidity, and the resulting wines have a great balance of freshness along with ripe flavours and good structure.

  • Alcohol 13.0%
  • Only 37 barrels were made.
  • Harvest dates: 15 April 2023
  • Bottling date: 7 November 2024
  • The wine is bottled under Diam cork.
  • Bottle weight 545 g (unfilled).