• French oak
• Dark cherry & plum
• Toasty oak spice
• Silky, polished tannins

"Firm and supple, already elegant with a lovely, soft, silky smooth mouth feel and lovely sweet cherry and berry fruit. It is so smooth, but there's a seriousness about it as well as perfect drinkability. Great intensity of flavour. Classy and effortless" Richard Bampfield Master of Wine, Tim Atkin Master of Wine, International Wine Challenge 2020

"Combining fruit power and elegance, this magnificently styled pinot shows dark cherry, sweet strawberry, thyme, dark mushroom and floral characters with nuances of game and toasted almond. The palate delivers excellent concentration and refinement, offering savoury complexity backed by silky texture and polished tannins. Sophisticated and engaging. At its best: now to 2028" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Sep 2019

"Bright, vibrant pinot noir with dark cherry, berry, anise, spice, woodsmoke and a suggestion of floral and red rose flavours. A distinctive and appealing wine that needs a little time to release its full potential" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Dec 2019

"A specific bouquet of Pinot Noir with layers of dark cherry and plum, dark raspberry, brown baking spices and toasty French oak spices. A bouquet that also starts to evolve over a few minutes opening up revealing layers of spice and minerals, rose and sweet oak. Fine tannins, medium+ acidity, a core of fruit led by red stone fruit. Moderate weight, medium+ acidity and a long focused finish. A wine to cellar for 2-4 years or enjoy from today with food. Enticing, balanced and well made" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Oct 2019

"Medium to deep red colour with a good purple rim. The bouquet is herbal and green-stemmy with plenty of floral and red-fruit lift to the aromatics. The wine is light to medium-weighted, soft and easygoing, with modest length. The tannins are a mite sappy and the wine fairly straightforward" Huon Hooke, Real Review, Feb 2020

An extremely approachable wine from the outset showing a perfumed nose with crushed rose petal and lavender, Damson plums and bramble berry underpinned by delicate dried herbs and thyme, reflective of the Central Otago terroir. Dark red fruits and cranberry abound on the palate with elegant and delicately integrated tannins finely balanced by a minerality typical of the Coal Pit vineyard. Showing good palate tension and linear length.

The 2018 growing season brought it all! Spring was brilliant, with the earliest flowering in Gibbston history under continuous dry and warm conditions, resulting in a fantastic fruit set. The warm dry period gave a strong and early bud push and notably our wind machine wasn’t run once. December and January were the warmest in memory and fears of a severe drought were relieved with heavy rain in February and March, allowing the berries to expand and fill out to beautiful plush bunches. Picking began 21 days early and we once again harvested clean fruit without rain, frost or disease pressure.

Typically, Coal Pit Pinot Noir peaks around 3-4 years of age, with some secondary character profiles apparent while retaining fruit vibrancy. With careful cellaring flavours will age gracefully into more tertiary and complex characters of leather and beef tea, around 8 years old.

Food Pairing: Enjoy with a wide range of food, however this wine matches exceptionally well with game, mushroom and truffle dishes. A broad array of spices can be successfully paired to the wine’s flavours – get creative and best of all, enjoy with good company! Pancetta wrapped venison medallions, with Port and figs.