Rockburn , Pinot Noir, 2022

Central Otago in New Zealand is often labelled as the best Pinot Noir growing terroir in the world.

It's said that where there's bad farming land, there's good winemaking land. Vines, unlike most other crops, perform best when they've got to struggle.

Unfertile soil, lack of rain - perfect. You see, vines are somewhat masochistic. The more they struggle, less energy goes into creating the canopy, and more complexity gets forced into fruit.

Central Otago is unfertile, cool, and dry, but also gets tons of sun. It's all the best bits of Burgundy without those nasty frosts.

That's why you get NZ Pinot that general beats Burgundy on almost every angle. This is a clear example - aged 10 months in oak, it also knocks the pants off value-for-money.