Our Pinot Noir vines grow on two rare Bannockburn sites untouched by miners.  For almost 100 years fruit was grown on the Domain Road site, peaches, pears and apples originally and then apricots at a later stage. It has been said that if you can grow apricots then you can also grow great Pinot Noir and this has certainly been the case at Domain Road.  Our second vineyard, Defiance on Felton Road is considered to be one of the prime sites in this well known location.  

The grapes (clones 113, 115, 943 and Abel) were hand harvested between 5th - 14th April 2020 from Defiance vineyard.  The fruit was de-stemmed into stainless steel tanks and inoculated with selected wine yeast to carry out the fermentation.  The wine was aged in French oak barriques for approximately 10 months, of which 30% was new oak.  

Deep garnet in colour, with fragrant aromas of violets, blackberry, dark plum, Christmas spice and dark chocolate, with a hint of smokiness on the nose.  The palate is rich, multi-layered and concentrated with sweet dark fruits of plum, cherry and blackberry. A complex, medium bodied wine with ample fine grained tannins, leading to a long finish with a touch of minerality and understated power. 

https://www.domainroad.co.nz/our-wines/pinot-noir/pinot-noir-bannockburn/