Rockburn Eight Barrels Gibbston Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 $96 
Grown in soils known as ‘Pigburn shallow fine sandy loam’, the best eight barrels of pinot noir harvested from Rockburn’s Gibbston vineyard, were set aside, to live their best life, to be the best they could be, to live their own truth and to express their original essence without the threat of being blended. The 2019 vintage was the stuff of rainbows and unicorns and bunyips of good luck (for those Aussie pinot fans out there) It has given rise to some seriously concentrated and clean and powerful pinot noir. Those eight barrels have delivered a wine with a plummy punch, smoked cherry and japonica notes, black guava and a razz of rhubarb. It shows sweet, juicy fruit concentration yet the savoury tones are reflected in a twiumph of twuffle (I just bit my tongue quite badly, hence the speech impediment in this review) on the finish. It is stunning stuff and absolutely the best vintage of this wine yet.
