Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019

Reviews

MaryAnn Worobiec, Wine Spectator: 96/100 & # 20 of the Top 100 Wines 2022. Aromatic and expressive, with notes of tarragon, sage and white pepper mingling with fresh, juicy flavours of raspberry, cherry and pomegranate. This is clearly defined and focussed, with firm tannins providing wonderful structure for the long, complex finish, where a note of dried lavender lingers. Drink now through 2030.

Cameron Douglas MS: 96/100.  Very complex and pure with aromas that suggest a sense of place and time, ripe red berry fruits, dried herb and a clay stony soil vineyard scents. Fragrant too with wild red flowers and berries, organic matter and barrel spice layers. Delicious, complex and dry on the palate with a firm youthful texture from tannins and acidity then flavours of red fruits and soils that mirror the bouquet. A lovely wine ready from drinking from 2023 through 2033+.

Bob Campbell, MW (The Real Review): 96/100. Intense, vibrant pinot noir showing real depth and complexity with nuanced floral, dark cherry and raspberry flavours together with thyme, anise, spice and a suggestion of white pepper. A backbone of fruity acidity reveals energy and helps to promote a lingering finish. A serious wine from one of Central Otago's top producers. 2021–2030.

James Suckling (JamesSuckling.com): 94/100 & Top 100 Wines of New Zealand 2021. Cherries, flowers and sweet spices on the nose. Medium-bodied with fresh acidity. Round and creamy with a caressing texture and a fruity edge. Long finish. Fresh and very fine. Elegant is the word. Drink or hold.

Michael Cooper: 5 stars. Burn Cottage Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 is beautifully fragrant. Already delicious, it is mouthfilling and supple, with generous cherry, plum and spice flavours, in a notably refined, harmonious style.

Tasting Note:

Layers of interest with aromatics of redcurrant, bright cherry and floral notes underpinned by savory hints of tea, earth and fern. The palate is vibrant and focused, supported with seamless balance and finesse. Lovely integration and flow with polished tannins that lend persistence through the palate.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Label design: The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily is a fairy tale by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published in 1795 in Friedrich Schiller's German magazine Die Horen (The Hours). It portrays, in imaginative form, Goethe's impressions of Schiller's Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man. The story revolves around the crossing and bridging of a river, which represents the divide between the outer life of the senses and the ideal aspirations of the human being.

Type: Red wine

Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir

Alcohol: 14% vol

Wine style: dry

Vineyard: Burn Cottage Vineyard, Lowburn, Central Otago, New Zealand. Planted with 5000 vines / ha. The first blocks were planted in 2003. The vineyard development has continued at a loving and deliberate pace to ensure that only the best plant material has been used.

Vintage: A very good season for growth, with the farm and vineyard experiencing periods of rain regularly. Some drier more classic Central Otago spells experienced in January and February, and healthy plants were vibrant and strong in both vineyard and property throughout the season. We had some frost to navigate in April, but around this a favourable slow extended ripening. Overall the seasons temperatures were moderate, which preserved wonderful balance and acidity.

Winemaking: The fruit's indigenous yeast fermented with 13% whole clusters, the wine spending 20 days on skins and aged 12 months in 24% new French oak.

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: Contains sulphites.

Cellaring potential: 2028+

Closure: cork

Produced and bottled by: Burn Cottage Vineyard, 91 Burn Cottage Road, Lake Dunstan 9384, New Zealand