Quartz Reef Bendigo Estate Single Ferment Pinot Noir 2019

Reviews

Cameron Douglas MS: 96/100.  Wonderful purity, complexity and vibrato in the bouquet with aromas of sweet ripe black cherry and Otago raspberries, a core of minerality with floral highlights, some new wood scents offering smoke and spice. Youthful, tense and poised on the palate with a core of pinosity, dark red berry fruit flavours, firm chalky tannins and plenty of acidity. Flavour mirror the bouquet leading to a lengthy, tense and complex finish. A wine for the cellar still with best drinking from late 2022 through 2030+. 21 days on skins with 20% new, 40% 1 year old, 20% 2 years old and 20% 3 years old - French oak program.

Bob Campbell, MW (The Real Review): 96/100. Single Ferment is the wine that best expresses both site and season. Richer and more intense than the regular pinot noir, with a complex mix of dark cherry, berry, floral and savoury flavours. The wine will obviously develop well with bottle age but is still quite accessible.

Gourmet Traveller Wine: 96/100 & Top New Release New Zealand Reds April / May 2021.  From a very wet season that was slightly hotter than normal. Richer and more intense than the regular pinot noir, with a complex mix of dark cherry/berry, floral and savoury flavours. Delicious now but with a promising future.

Joe Czerwinski, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 95/100 The 2019 Bendigo Estate Single Ferment Pinot Noir—nicknamed Black Ops—is indeed a darker shade of ruby than the regular bottling. Just the merest hint of cedar appears on the nose, accenting notes of black cherries, plums and some earthy, spicy, cola-like notes. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated and bold, this expansive, generous wine is framed by silky tannins and bright acids, which prolong the mouthwatering finish. It's a terrific effort from one of the region's acknowledged masters—owner/winemaker Rudi Bauer. Drink Date: 2021-2035

Michael Cooper: 5 stars & Super Classic. Deep ruby, mouthfilling red, powerful but not heavy, with dense, ripe cherry, plum and spice flavours, showing lovely concentration, good tannin backbone and obvious long-term potential. It should be a 10-year wine.

Tasting note

Deep ruby in colour with a layered bouquet of red berries, floral and savoury notes. Rich and opulent on the palate with dark cherry, plum and spice. Elegant yet mouth filling with an impressive purity and power. Very good ageing potential.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: Red wine

Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir

Alcohol: 14% vol

Food match: Serve with wild duck and pork dishes

Residual sugar: <1 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Wine region: Bendigo, Central Otago, New Zealand. 

Vineyard: The pioneer Bendigo Estate vineyard. With a vine density of 5,000 - 8,000 plants per hectare on grafted pinot noir clones, planted in 1998. The soils on the beautiful north facing slope are Waenga fine sandy loam and Letts steepland with an elevation from 217 – 264 metres, on 44.55° south.

Winemaking: Hand-picked on the 8th April from block 9 of the vineyard. 10% whole bunch. Cold soaked for 7 days before indigenous yeast fermentation kicked in. Gentle hand plunging throughout ferment, followed by post-fermentation maceration of 6 days to ensure optimum fruit and tannin balance. Total time on skin; 21 days. Drained directly into selected French oak barriques (20% new, 40% 1 year old, 20% 2 years old and 20% 3 years old) where the wine aged for 15 months during which natural malolactic fermentation occured. Bottled without fining and filtration. The winemaking was very much in keeping with the traditional practices of the Old World. Winemaker, Rudi Bauer, has combined these techniques, and his own personal understanding, to create this wine.

Cellaring potential: 2025-2029. A maskuline Pinot from Central Otago that will develop well when you have the patience to cellar it.

Produced and bottled by: Quartz Reef, PO Box 63, Cromwell, Central Otago 9342, New Zealand