Two Paddocks
Proprietor's Reserve The Last Chance Pinot Noir 2021 750ml

“We grow our premium Two Paddocks Pinot Noir entirely on our four small vineyards in Central Otago. In some exceptional vintages, listening carefully, we realize that one of these sites 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 two-hectare 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.

Soils are raw schist gravels that are low in fertility and require careful nurturing.

VINTAGE COMMENT

Vintage 2021 was characterised by climatic variation extremes throughout spring and early summer and then developing into a fantastic finish, with a long stable mid-summer / autumn warm period, right up to and over harvest. At the start of the season, a cold winter continued into a dry warm spring with steady vine shoot growth.  

The grapes flowered over December 2020, which was warmer than last year but with intermittent rain that resulted in only half the vineyard blocks achieving desired crop loads. The first week of January saw a significant rain event and that set the vineyards up with optimum soil moisture levels for the rest of the season. There was some typical early and late in the season frost fighting, but the vine canopies stayed resilient and green with harvest staring a week earlier than typical on the 30th of March and finishing on the 22nd April.

WINEMAKERS NOTES

Hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard. Clonal selection predominantly 86% clone 115 and 14% clone 5. 78.6% whole-bunch fermentation in a 3.5 tonne wooden cuve. 7-day cold soak. Indigenous yeast added. 24 days left on skins with one plunge per day. Fermented for 9 days between 17- 33° celcius – post fermentation transferred to medium and light toast French barriques for 11 months maturation(11.1% new oak).

TASTING NOTE:

A seamless example of the Last Chance vineyard, showing brilliance, clarity and poise.