Central Otago

Rabbit Ranch is one of the best known and highest volume Pinot Noirs produced in the world?s southernmost wine regions, Central Otago. It is made from grapes grown around the wider Central Otago region, pushing softness and approachability in a light to medium bodied, fruit forward style each year. It drinks well as a youthful wine and is not intended to be cellared for the long term.

One of New Zealand?s best bubbles and one of its most consistent, complex handmade wines; it's typically a 70/30 blend of toasty flavours from Pinot Noir with crisp citrus creamy ones from Chardonnay. It comes from one of the country's oldest producers of traditional method sparkling wine - Rudi Bauer in Central Otago, who pioneered Quartz Reef Brut NV in the early days of Otago as a wine region.

Quartz Reef Brut NV began life when winemaker Rudi Bauer teamed up with a visiting French winemaker Clothilde Chauvet (daughter of champagne maker Marc Chauvet). Together they pioneered this high quality, traditional method sparkling wine, using mostly Pinot Noir (now 72% of the blend) with the balance being Chardonnay. The wine is typically aged for two years on lees in bottle following its second fermentation - longer than most champagnes. No wonder it massively over delivers on both taste and price. This is a stunning sparkling wine. Ignore at your peril.

Saddleback Pinot Noir is named after the bold and beautiful South Island Saddleback, a native bird to New Zealand. And the wine is also a bold one, representing a fruity expression of Pinot Noir from Central Otago. It's a blend of grapes from the region, including 39% Pinot Noir from Bendigo, 50% from Pisa and 11% from the Gibbston Valley, home to the winery's cellar door. 

This soft and fresh Pinot Noir is made from 100% destemmed grapes which were aged for 10 months in French oak.

It's made to drink now and in the next two to three years. 

Pinot Noir makes up over 80% of Central Otago's vineyards and it suits this cool climate because it is one of the earliest ripening red grapes in winemaking and can be harvested before the region's frosty winters set in. Roaring Meg is one of Central Otago's most popular wines and is named, cheekily, after a lady of the night during the infamous gold rush days in this southern region, in the 1800s. 

It's a light bodied, fresh and smooth red wine with notes of spice and cedar; made for drinking early in its life rather than aging.

Roaring Meg is one of Central Otago's most popular wines and is named, cheekily, after a lady of the night during the infamous gold rush days in this southern region, in the 1800s. 

Pinot Gris is the most popular and widely planted white grape in this region, although it pales in comparison to Pinot Noir, which makes up over 80% of the area's vineyards. Gris is a soft, smooth and approachable white wines, such as this lightly spicy version with a good balance of fresh southern acidity, thanks to the cool climate here. 

This is a beautifully silky smooth Central Otago Pinot Noir made entirely from estate grown fruit at a small vineyard in Bendigo, one of the warmest corners (and often the first to harvest) in Central Otago. This wine comes from one of the driest, most settled vintages, weather-wise, in the past five years, and those qualities translate through to an intensely aromatic Pinot, driven by fresh floral notes and ripe dark cherry flavours in a silky textured wine. This wine is great value and super tasty.

The name Ballasalla comes from a village on the Isle of Man where one of the winery's founders, Tim Kerruish, was born. 

Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir is regarded as an icon Pinot Noir from the world's southernmost wine region, the dramatically beautiful mountainous, Central Otago. This wine is made by the Dicey family, one of the first to plant grapes in Bannockburn, south of the Kawarau River. Their pioneering work in this region triggered rapid expansion in the area's modern wine history.

This wine is dry with powerful fruit driven flavours and a smooth, approchoable style, even when this wine is youthful. It drinks well now and can age for a further four to five years. 

Doctors Flat Pinot Noir is a full bodied, dark and age worthy take on Central Otago Pinot Noir by winemaker Steve Davies, who used 22% whole bunch fermentation in this wine, which is made entirely from his three hectare vineyard in Bannockburn, Central Otago, where schist sub soils, clay and fine silt all provide Pinot Noirs with depth and weight. This full bodied, dark Pinot Noir was made from three Dijon clones of Pinot; 115, 777 and 114 and aged for 12 months in French oak, 24% new.

Drinks well now and can definitely age for at least five to six years, and then some...

Central Otago Pinot Noir is one of New Zealand's great wine success stories, especially when it comes from the sun drenched rocky soils of Bannockburn, one of the great sub regions of this majestic area. 

The Mysterious Diggings Vineyard in Bannockburn is on the site of a former gold mine and is a dry, fruit driven and smooth Central Otago Pinot with an accessible price.

Light bodied and flavoursome rose packed with berry, cherry and dried cranberry flavours, made from hand picked grapes which were fermented stainless steel to preserve the delicate aromatics and elegant structure.

This wine is dry, medium bodied and nicely structured with refreshing acidity driving tension and length in every sip of this red fruited pink wine. Flavours here span the gamut of red fruit from cherries and cranberries to loganberries and strawberries. Super refreshing, lovely lively summer sipping. 

Te Kano also has Central Otago's newest cellar door at its home block vineyard on Felton Road in Bannockburn. 

This is one of New Zealand's most popular white wines made 100% from our most planted red grape, Pinot Noir. It's a dry, fresh and medium bodied white made from hand picked Pinot Noir grapes grown at Wooing Tree's home block vineyard in Cromwell, Central Otago. Minimal skin contact and stainless steel fermentation retains freshness and a light zesty flavour and character. 

Sarah-Kate and Dan Dineen are partners in wine and in life and dab hands at producing powerful Pinot Noirs in Central Otago. This one comes from grapes grown on two of Maude's vineyards, Sitting Bull and Queensberry. It's a medium bodied Pinot Noir, dry, earthy and with refreshing red fruit forward flavours.

It drinks beautifully now and can age for a further six to seven years. One of our favourites.

Mount Edward Winery is one of the few producers of great Chenin Blanc in New Zealand and this is a dry style with succulent flavours of white peach, a hint of honey and juicy acidity giving this wine its mouthwateringly long finish. 

Mount Edward Wines was founded by the godfather of modern Central Otago wine, Alan Brady, in 1997. Its name comes from Mount Edward and iti s situated at the foot of this mountain in the Gibbston Valley, which is the source of some of the grapes used in its wines. Most of the vineyard source for Mount Edward is further afield, notably in Pisa at the outstanding Morrison Vineyard and in Bannockburn at the Muirkirk Vineyard. 

A great white from the world's most southern wine region.

Peter Bartle has made Pinot Noir in Central Otago for the past couple of decades, so he's a bit of a dab hand at red wine from the world's southernmost wine region. 

The Providore First Edition is made with grapes grown in Queensberry, mid way between Cromwell and Wanaka. It's from a very warm vintage so was released with a minimum time in oak as a velvet smooth, silky little drink me now style of Pinot Noir. It's proven extremely popular at Regional, so we're constantly topping up the shelves and one sip will show you why.

If you're a fan of southern Pinot, check out this next level new brand from an old hand.