Central Otago

A unique parcel within Rippon, Tinker's Field is a gentle, north facing slope formed by an ancient ejection cone of coarse schist gravels and is home to the oldest vines on the property. It is named after Rippon's visionary founder, Rolfe Mills (Tink to his friends), and the land that he had dreamed of farming since childhood.

Bright, straw-yellow colour with an aromatic, intense nose with rose and honeyed notes. This is a dry Gewurztraminer with a crisp and zesty palate with great, lively acidity and notes of rose petal and steely minerality.

This is a bright and elegant Pinot Noir rose from Bannockburn, Central Otago. The nose is fruity and bright with bright red fruit notes and a distinct minerality. These notes continue on the palate, which is balanced by a gentle touch of sweetness and bright acidity.

Biodynamic Pinot Noir from the Pisa Range in Central Otago. This is Burgundy meets Otago in style, with dark cherries and herbal spice notes on the nose and a medium palate of further dark cherries, licorice spice and nutty oak elements. Acid, tannins and fruit all in balance and delivered in a lush velvet mouthful.

Pair with duck, pork beef and lamb over the next four years.

Commercial description

Immediately appealing on the nose showing dark cherry, roasted nut, game, warm mushroom and rich floral aromas. The palate delivers terrific weight and richness, splendidly supported by velvety texture and layers of polished tannins. Graceful and harmonious with an impressive long silky finish.

This dry, full bodied, flavoursome Pinot Gris is something special from the deep south and was fermented with skin contact in amphora to bring a new dimension to one of the most popular grapes in the world right now. Domaine Rewa has hit a new high with the small production of this lovely wine. 

Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Hall Vineyard, which was planted in 2000 in Bannockburn at 350 metres above sea level. This area has a semi continental climate. It is planted with six different clones of Pinot Noir: 777, 115, 10/5, UCD5, 113 and 13. The soils here are wind blown loess over schist bedrock. They are deep, moderately sandy and free draining. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Valli Wines was founded by Central Otago winemaker Grant Taylor in 1998 and has since become one of the most collectible Pinot Noir brands in New Zealand with four distinctly different Pinot Noirs made every year from four key sub regions in Central Otago. Grant is the only winemaker producing a consistently diverse range of wines every vintage with each wine made the same way so that the wines each express the climate and soil variations in the areas from which they come from.

The four Valli Pinot Noirs

The four sub regions that winemaker Grant Taylor makes Pinot Noir from each year encompass widely varying landscapes, soil types and climates from the maritime influenced weather in the Waitaki Valley Vineyard on the ironically named Grant's Road; a site that Grant Taylor owns, through to the semi continental climates of Gibbston, Bannockburn and Bendigo. 

Bendigo

Valli Bendigo Pinot Noir is made from grapes grown on the Chinaman's Terrace Vineyard in Bendigo, Central Otago. This elevated vineyard was planted in 2005 between 314 metres and 374 metres above sea level with five different Pinot Noir clones; Abel, 115, UCD5, 667 and 777. The soils are shallow sandy loams with a high clay content and also include a small lower section with gravel soils.  Bendigo has a semi continental, arid climate. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Bannockburn

Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Hall Vineyard, which was planted in 2000 in Bannockburn at 350 metres above sea level. This area has a semi continental climate. It is planted with six different clones of Pinot Noir; namely, 777, 115, 10/5, UCD5, 113 and 13. The soils here are wind blown loess over schist bedrock. They are deep, moderately sandy and free draining. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Gibbston Valley

Valli Gibbston Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Gibbston Highway, which were planted between 1999 and 2000 at between 343 and 351 metres above sea level. The Pinot Noir clones on this site are 777, 115, UCD5 and 114. Soils are alluvial loess which ranges from 0.5 to 1 metre deep over firm river gravels.

Rainfall is lower here than in Bannockburn and Bendigo. The climate is considered semi continental. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Waitaki Valley

Valli Waitaki Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on Grant's Road in the Waitaki Valley, a maritime influenced climate planted between 2004 and 2005 at 200 metres above sea level on limestone based soils. River gravels also make up some of the soil type here and vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

If the words Fum? Blanc bring to mind a bygone era, try this beautiful modern dry wine, which is Malcolm Rees-Francis' take on the theme and has flavours of creamy, savoury notes, complementing a beautiful full bodied Sauvignon Blanc style. It's made from handpicked grapes fermented in barrel in order to coax complexity, texture and weight from Sauvignon Blanc.

All the grapes were grown on Rockburn Winery's Parkburn Vineyard and the grapes were fermented with wild yeasts in French oak. 

Olearia Pinot Noir is a big wine made on a small scale from Prophet's Rock range of Pinot Noirs and is made from the steepest part of the Rocky Point Vineyard in Bendigo where schist soils dominate the ground and an earthy, dark, weighty wine is the result. Winemaker Paul Pujol wanted to explore this small area of the vineyard to see what style of wine would result from this small parcel of land. 

All grapes in this wine were hand picked, fermented with wild yeasts and the finished wine was aged for 17 months in French oak barrels and bottled unfiltered. Just 321 cases made.

We have five bottles and suggest this is an excellent wine for adding to your cellar or drink now in large glasses, decanted. 

The name comes from the Olearia Lineata, a small dense tree with elegant fine branches and tiny drought? resistant leaves that once carpeted the valley floors of Central Otago. There are large numbers of these officially at risk trees in and around Bendigo, which is home to Prophet's Rock vineyards. 

There are three single vineyard Pinot Noirs in the Mount Edward stable, including this outstanding full bodied example which is made from grapes grown on the upper terraces of the Pisa sub region. These grapes are always the first to be harvested and Pisa Terrace Pinot Noir is a wine of perfume and aromatics, a lifted wine, light in feel and weight, elegant with a purity of fruit.

This is New Zealand's smallest and one of its coolest climate wine regions. It typically produces high quality, delicate and silky Pinot Noirs, and this rose is made 100% from Pinot grapes, which were lightly pressed to provide a minimala pale pink hue to this lively fresh, dry and full bodied wine. 

Savoury dried herbs and earthy notes lead into this impressively structured Pinot Noir from the Gibbston Valley, the last region typically to harvest its grapes each year in Central Otago. This cool climate is expressed in this wine in the high acidity and dried herb notes, which add depth and complexity to the weighty red plum notes and lovely full body. An impressive wine from a very good vintage and likely to shine in 10 years' time - if it lasts that long. 

Released and on the market now. Ageing time: potentially 10 to 11 years+.

The four Valli Pinot Noirs

The four sub regions that winemaker Grant Taylor makes Pinot Noir from each year encompass widely varying landscapes, soil types and climates from the maritime influenced weather in the Waitaki Valley Vineyard on the ironically named Grant's Road; a site that Grant Taylor owns, through to the semi continental climates of Gibbston, Bannockburn and Bendigo. 

Bendigo

Valli Bendigo Pinot Noir is made from grapes grown on the Chinaman's Terrace Vineyard in Bendigo, Central Otago. This elevated vineyard was planted in 2005 between 314 metres and 374 metres above sea level with five different Pinot Noir clones; Abel, 115, UCD5, 667 and 777. The soils are shallow sandy loams with a high clay content and also include a small lower section with gravel soils.  Bendigo has a semi continental, arid climate. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Bannockburn

Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Hall Vineyard, which was planted in 2000 in Bannockburn at 350 metres above sea level. This area has a semi continental climate. It is planted with six different clones of Pinot Noir; namely, 777, 115, 10/5, UCD5, 113 and 13. The soils here are wind blown loess over schist bedrock. They are deep, moderately sandy and free draining. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Gibbston Valley

Valli Gibbston Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Gibbston Highway, which were planted between 1999 and 2000 at between 343 and 351 metres above sea level. The Pinot Noir clones on this site are 777, 115, UCD5 and 114. Soils are alluvial loess which ranges from 0.5 to 1 metre deep over firm river gravels.

Rainfall is lower here than in Bannockburn and Bendigo. The climate is considered semi continental. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Waitaki Valley

Valli Waitaki Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on Grant's Road in the Waitaki Valley, a maritime influenced climate planted between 2004 and 2005 at 200 metres above sea level on limestone based soils. River gravels also make up some of the soil type here and vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Ripe quince, white pear and nectarine flavours combine in this totally dry, medium bodied Pinot Gris from Central Otago, which is beautifully well suited to producing tasty and dry Pinot Gris, as this newcomer shows. It tastes crisp, refreshing and lightly spicy with flavours of white pears and red apples. It is part of the new Dicey Wine brand is the brainchild of the well experienced Dicey brothers, Matt and James, whose parents were among the pioneers of viticulture and winemaking in Bannockburn, Central Otago, when they co-founded Mt Difficulty Wines.

Residual sugar is less than one gram per litre and alcohol is 14.5%.

Great Central Otago Riesling in a medium dry, succulent, deliciously drinkable style with flavours of lime zest and lemon. Dicey Wines is owned by the Dicey brothers, Matt and James, whose parents were pioneers of viticulture and winemaking in Bannockburn, Central Otago, when they co-founded Mt Difficulty Wines.

A unique parcel within Rippon, Emma?s Block faces eastward on the lakefront where ancient clay reefs run laterally through fine schist gravels. Emma?s Block is named after the great-great-great grandmother of the current generation of the Mills family, through whom the name entered into the family.

Cellaring is recommended. This wine will age gracefully for 10+ years.