REGION: Central Otago

TASTING NOTES: The 2006 vintage delivered us perfectly ripened fruit, and our new winery helped us guide this fruit gently through to the bottle with minimal handling. Our ”hands-off” approach delivers a pure expression of Central Otago to your glass; rich, intense fruits, delicate floral tones enhanced by nuances of wild thyme, and creamy, silky tannins leading into a long mocha finish, and shows classic Rockburn elegance, integrity and balance. Enjoy with friends over the next 6-8 years.

AWARDS & REVIEWS:

• Rated 95/100, top 7 of 12 NZ Pinot Noirs GTW Oct 2008 by Bob Campbell MW “A blend of wines from Parkburn (85% and the cooler Gibbston districts of Central Otago. Unusually small bunches and berries have produced a concentrated wine in what appears to be a good vintage for the region. Very pretty wine with appealing floral and glazed cherry aromas underscored by richer, weighter characters. Dense and silken textured with impressive compexity and extraordinary length. I bought two cases."

• Elite Gold Medal and winner of Fairfax Media Champion Open Red Wine Trophy 2007 Air New Zealand Wine Awards
• 94 points WBM100 Magazine April 2008, Blue-Gold Medal
• Five Stars - November  Cuisine Magazine
  Pinot Noir Tasting – Rated number 2 out of 189 Pinot Noirs tasted "Almost text book perfection. Rich, with intense, savoury, velvety texture. Silky, fleshy and fragrant with fantastic use of oak" - Sarah-Kate Dineen
• Gold Medal 2007 Bragato Awards; Silver Medal – NZ International Wine Show 2007
• Charmain Smith, Otago Daily Times – “The 06 Pinot is a stylish, well-structured, showy young wine once it opens up, then it oozes sweet cherry fruit and oodles creamy, spicy, toasty, chocolaty oak and finishes with fine-grained tannins and a long firm finish.”
• Joelle Thompson, Urbis – “Everyone should have a ‘just in case’ wine and this is the first 2006 Central Otago Pinot Noir I tried – not to mention one of the best I’ve ever had from that region. Rock on Central and winemaker Malcolm Francis.”