Description

ABOUT THE PRODUCER:
Rockburn started as the hobby of Richard Bunton in 1991. He planted a few hectares of vineyard in the then pretty much unknown area of Central Otago. In 2005, Malcolm Rees-Francis the winemaker, arrived from Felton Road where his skills immediately reaped the rewards when he won the Elite Gold Medal and the Young Antipodean Winemaker of the Year award. Following an ecological philosophy, the vines are sustainably cultivated and the estate holds the Sustainable Wines of New Zealand certification. This is a very exciting new arrival on the world Pinot Noir stage; quite simply Rockburn is one of the very best producers of Pinot Noir in New Zealand.

THE VINTAGE:
2022 continued the trend of being a little warmer than the season before, with a good dose of rain at the start of February. Disease pressure was relatively high with many reports of powdery mildew in the region, but fortunately the Rockburn vineyards avoided it. Gibbston vineyards generated tiny bunches of perfectly ripe fruit. 2022 was one of the biggest vintages ever and the 22 wines will be worthy successors to the 2021s.

ABOUT THE VINEYARD:
Rockburn takes its name from the rugged, rock-strewn, burn scarred landscape of Central Otago. Located on the 45th parallel, Rockburn shares a continental climate that is similar to Burgundy. The estate vineyards are located in Gibbston and are flanked by mountains to the west, whose seaward slopes are rainforest, receiving 5,000mm of rain per annum. To the east is a barren, moon-like landscape that receives less than 25mm or rain a year. The Pinot Noir grapes for the Twelve Barrels, come from a single vineyard, where the Clone 6 vines are trained according to the Vertical Shoot Position method. The vines are planted in Pigburn shallow fine sandy loam soils which were formed by glacial activity during the ice age. The resulting wine fully expresses the complex subtleties from this terroir, displaying elegance, power and grace generated by the Gibbston Back Road Vineyard site.

THE WINEMAKING PROCESS:
Every year, Malcolm Rees-Francis fills hundreds of French oak barrels with Pinot Noir, and every year he searches for the individual barrels which portray most eloquently the site and the season. Thus, Twelve Barrels was born. Vinification took place in a seventonne fermenter, with eight day’s cold maceration followed by fermentation lasting one week with daily plunging. Post fermentation maceration lasted for 10 days, before the wine was barrel-aged for 14 months in French of which 50% was new.

OUR TASTING NOTES:
Dark and concentrated, with aromas of bramble fruit, truffle and cedar with lifted florals and a seamless texture to the smooth palate. A finely balanced Pinot Noir, with ripe tannins and lively fruit.

GRAPE VARIETY:
Pinot Noir 100%.

AWARDS:
• 95 Points, Decanter World Wine Awards, 2024