Last Chance Pinot Noir 2015.

“We grow our premium Two Paddocks Pinot Noir entirely on our four small Vineyards in Central Otago. In some exceptional vintages, listening carefully, we realise that one of these may have something extraordinary to say in its own right. It is only then that we will make one of these very rare single vineyard wines.” Sam Neill, Proprietor

The Last Chance is a beautifully sited small terrace perched in bright clear air above the Earnscleugh Valley, carefully planted with well-tended Burgundian clone pinot noir. It nestles amongst a small cluster of the World’s most southerly vineyards and takes its name from the watercourse that runs through its heart, hand dug by gold miners in the 1860s, The Last Chance.

Vintage Comment:

A good start to the season with healthy well balanced canes being laid on all three vineyard blocks with appropriate bud numbers, but growing then got off to a slow start with cooler than normal temperatures in late spring. The resulting bunches from the cooler spring were of average size but made up of very small berries, which regardless of clone and rootstock ripened at much the same time after a very warm and dry autumn. March was the warmest March we have on record. Additionally there was not the normal large diurnal shift this autumn tending much more to range between 5 degrees over night to 25 degrees during the day. This seemed to be the catalyst for lovely even ripening and carried on until harvest in mid April.

Winemakers Notes:

Red fruit, dried herb and lifted spice aromatics. This wine displays great density, persistence and length. The mid palate density gives this elegant wine great poise.

Soils: Raw schist gravels. Vines: 115 and 5 on various rootstock, 3500 vines per hectare.
Canopy management: VSP two cane, 4 Tonne per hectare, 80g bunches.

Canopy management: VSP two cane, 4 Tonne per hectare, 80g bunches.

Oenology: Hand picked and sorted in the vineyard. One-third whole-bunch fermentation in a 3.5 tonne wooden cuve. 5 day cold soak. No commercial yeast added, ferment temperature peaked at 32° – post fermentation transferred to medium and light toast French barriques for 11 months maturation. One-third new wood and the balance in second and third fill barrels. Light filtration prior to bottling.

pH 3.58 -- TA 5.9 g/l -- Alc 13.5%

Proprietor: Sam Neill

Viticulturist: Mike Wing

Winemaker: Dean Shaw

Bottled: March 2014

Total Production: 150 doz

Cellaring: Up to 10 years

Reviews:

4.5 stars, 18.0 -- Sweet floral aromatics with a savoury twist. In the mouth it is medium weight, ifted and driven by bright acidity. Red cherry and spice (clove, allspice) notes ring out. This is a wine that bristles with juicy energy, resolving in a long, fine savour finish. -- John Saker, June 2016

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4 stars, 17.5+ Points -- Medium pinot noir ruby, some age showing, right in the middle for depth of colour. Bouquet is a little out to one side, maturing red fruits, fragrant but not exactly floral, with a spicy cinnamon and related quality suggesting light brett. Palate has the good concentration all these Two Paddocks wines now show, browning red cherry grading to black cherry, but again spicy, and very dry indeed. An unusual pinot noir style, enormously food friendly, like a pinot noir version of an older-style chateauneuf-du-pape (in flavour, not weight). Shorter term cellar might be wiser, on the drying factor, 3 – 8 years. -- June 2016, Geoff Kelly Wine Reviews