Remember movies like The Piano,
Jurassic Park or The Hunt for Red October? What do these pictures all
have in common? Any idea? Well, if you have good eyesight and look at
the admittingly tiny photo above a bit closer you might recognize a
gentleman. The gentleman to the left. Of course the one on the label,
not the one in the background who seems to take his Fido out for an
early morning walk in Kensington Gardens. This very gentleman is the -
let's say - „unifying dimenson“ with the name: Sam Neill. A still
very well known actor from New Zealand who started the Two Paddocks
winery as proprietor in 1993 near Gibbston in Central Otago by
planting 5 acres of Burgundian Pinot Noir clones. By the way, you can
check out his true passion for Pinot Noir in a number of really funny clips
on the winery's website. Now back to history: About the same time his
friend Roger Donaldson planted another vineyard right next door.
Hence the name for the winery was born: Two Paddocks! Since the late
1990s production increased significantly. Since then Two Paddocks
produces up to five Pinot Noirs (depending on the vintage) each year.
Since 2003 Two Paddocks also produces two Rieslings from Red Bank
vineyard in the Alexandra Basin in the south of Central Otago. From a
European perspective the true end of the wineworld! A part of today's
entry-level Pinot Noir from 2012 with the well fitting name Picnic comes also from this very southern area around
Alexandra. The grapes for the Picnic were harvested by hand, up to
85% were de-stemmed and were given a 5 to 7 days of cold maceration.
Fermentation on skins with indigenous yeasts took another 5 to 7
days. Afterwards the Picnic was aged for 10 months in 1 to 4 year old
French medium toasted barriques. Well, let's have our first sip of
this very very distant Pinot Noir ….
