Quartz Reef, Single Vineyard Pinot Noir, Central Otago, 2017

On former gold-mining terrain in the Bendigo sub-region, the vines were planted in 1998 on north-facing slopes of Waenga fine sandy loam, at elevations up to 264 metres. An untypically cool and windy summer resulted in smaller bunches and lower berry weight than normal, though the fruit was nonetheless well ripened and concentrated. Six clones were small-batch vinified, with natural yeast fermentation starting after cold-soaking for up to seven days; after 23 days on the skins, the wine was moved to French oak barriques, 28% new, to age for 12 months with spontaneous malolactic fermentation. After an appealingly bright, jammy fruit nose of redcurrant, raspberry and cherry, the wine manages to strike a balance between both opulence yet somehow restraint on the palate. Its very expressive character steadily reveals layer upon layer of that bright berry-cherry fruit along with dried herbs and soft cedary spice, and it keeps developing through a great-length finish. The price-tag (set to be around £60 in the UK) puts it on a par with a decent entry-level Volnay or Gevrey-Chambertin from Burgundy. Does the ‘organic factor’ justify it? It’s a lovely and very moreish wine in its own right, so that would be in the eye of the beholder…