Prophet's RockHome Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023

Paul Pujol zählt zu den Top-Winzern Neuseelands und hat Prophet’s Rock in Central Otago seit 2005 zu einer echten Referenz gemacht. Sein ‚Home Vineyard‘ Pinot Noir zeigt eindrucksvoll, wie modern und präzise die Region heute sein kann: elegant statt überextrahiert, konzentriert statt laut, voller Energie und Tiefe. Ein Pinot, der nicht beeindrucken will – er tut es aber trotzdem!

The 2023 Home Vineyard Pinot Noir is grown on a pocket of pedogenic limestone, clay and schist. The wine is possessed of a mineral presence that is alluring to the point of thrilling, with a mineral seam of tannin that runs from the front to the back of the palate and out into the long finish. It draws the fruit flavor along with it, meaning I am left with a textural linger of flavor and shape long after the wine has gone. The wine is eminently red fruited and spiced, with raspberry seed, sweet pouch tobacco, crushed rocks, iodine in small measure, dried herbs and brine. The finish is almost as good as the lead-in, all elements of the wine working together in a swirl of cooperation and harmony. The beauty of the 2023s from Central Otago (and the South Island generally) has dawned on me, after tasting a huge number of them over the past six months. It wasn't presented as a vintage I should watch out for; rather, the wines speak for themselves. They have energy, detail, poise and life. The extraction management in the winery is extremely specific and sparing, meaning the tannins that we live with here in the glass are mostly vineyard-derived, and what is better than that? This is chalky, chewy and pliable, and the tannins are elongating and lengthening. 13% alcohol, sealed under Diam.

A gorgeous pinot, this shows pure and focused strawberries and dark berries as well as lavender and sandalwood. Flint too. Medium-bodied with ultrafine tannins and a long, racy finish. It’s sleek and curated. Terrific. So drinkable now but will age beautifully.