“It is sensational… a superb wine by any standard.” - The Wine Advocate, 96+ points

“Quite brilliant.” - Jamie Goode, 95 points

We live on a big planet, but there are very few places where Pinot Noir feels truly at home and lives its best life. In the northern hemisphere, there’s Burgundy, of course, as well as Oregon, some of the cooler parts of northern California and Canada, Baden in Germany, isolated spots in Austria and the Alto Adige in Italy. In the southern hemisphere, there’s Tasmania, Victoria, the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Marlborough and Central Otago and I’m already starting to run out of examples.

It’s a fickle, capricious grape, but when its needs are met, it makes the most wonderful wines, each with their very own sense of place, but I don’t think any Pinot Noir from those places mentioned above, including Burgundy, are so easily identifiable as those from Central Otago on New Zealand’s South Island. They seem to have a slightly darker character, a wet hedgerow-fruit quality, like blackberries after a rain shower, or the incarnadine liquor that oozes from a summer pudding, This example, from Prophet’s Rock, is as defiantly Central Otago as you could wish for, it’s not trying to emulate a red Burgundy, it’s true to itself and is an utterly beguiling cocktail of blackcurrants, raspberries, redcurrants and blueberries, laced with a little baking spice to mollify the sharper fruits. Drink it with salmon teriyaki, a toasted turkey sandwich, crispy aromatic duck or barbecued baby-back ribs. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2035.

NB Winemaker, Paul Pujol, worked at Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé in Burgundy, developing a friendship with its winemaker, François Millet, who now consults at Prophet’s Rock.

Press review:

The Wine Advocate: “The 2021 Home Vineyard Pinot Noir is from the front block and the higher back terrace of the vineyard beside the winery, and the wine is supple and concentrated on the nose. It smells silky, if that is even a thing. In the mouth, the wine flows effortlessly. It is sensational. The tannins are silky. If you'd like closure on the open-ended question posed by the aromatics, the fruit stays firmly on the red end of the flavour spectrum - a feathering of cherry across pomegranate pearls, layers of raspberry pip, red liquorice, pink peppercorns ... the list goes on. A complex wine, this is shaped by tannins and agile, svelte fruit. A superb wine by any standard. Drink now-2036.” 96+ points

Jamie Goode: “Brooding and focused, this has a core of sweet black cherry fruit with some blackberry, together with notes of iodine, salty spiciness and fine green hints. It’s a little grunty in a nice way, and tends to elegance. A beautiful expression of Central Pinot, finishing juicy and stony. Quite brilliant.” 95 points

Vinous: “The 2021 Pinot Noir Home Vineyard is young and structured. It is initially a supple, mouth-filling style - expect florals, red fruits and oak-derived spices. The tannins are abundant with a powder-like veil of chalky texture. Sensitively made, unworked and long. The framework of tannins that grip the palate in combination with the fruit’s concentration suggest this is one for bottle aging. One that you need to sit with and appreciate. Drink now-2036.“ 94 points