Description
VALLI is the personal vocation of pioneering winemaker Grant Taylor. Grant’s name is synonymous with Otago Pinot Noir. He has been crafting wines there since 1993 when there were only 20 ha planted – today there are over 2000. Grant founded VALLI in 1998 with the intention to produce single vineyard Pinot Noirs highlighting the different characteristics of Otago’s sub regions. More than 20 years later, VALLI is doing just that, producing single-vineyard pinot noirs from Gibbston, Bannockburn, and Bendigo in Central Otago and the Waitaki Valley in North Otago, as well as a dry Pinot Gris from Gibbston and a Riesling from Waitaki. In 2015, established Otago winemaker Jen Parr joined Grant in the winery where the two aim to create wines with honesty, integrity, and most of all, a sense of place. When you drink a Valli wine, you are enjoying more than just a wine: you are experiencing a place.
The location of Valli’s Bannockburn Vineyard is only 20km from Gibbston in the Cromwell basin but the difference in climate is responsible for creating markedly different wines. The Bannockburn wines reflect this warmer area by displaying darker fruits, by being denser, more powerful and with longevity based more on their tannin structure, as opposed to Gibbston wines which are based more on their acidity. The soils are also windblown loess over gravelly schist but with sandier, deeper topsoil, which allows for free draining. Climate, rather than soil, attributes to the main difference in the wines.
About this wine from the winemaker, Jen Parr “Bright garnet hue with a lifted fragrance of blackberry, blueberry and dark cherry laced with wild thyme, evergreen, lily and sweet jasmine. The palate is buoyant and luxuriously fruited with dried herb spice and a delightful tangy finish. The tannins are generous yet fine, flowing in harmony with the fresh acidity. Layered and inviting at release, this wine is apt for cellaring and will continue to evolve for 20+/- years.'” Jen Parr – January 2025
97 Points, Sam Kim, Wine Orbit “Wonderfully fruited and lifted, the bouquet shows dark berry, cured meat, tar, olive, and hazelnut aromas. This leads to a wonderfully weighted palate delivering terrific fruit intensity with gorgeous complexity. Wonderfully framed by silky texture and layers of polished tannins, it is bold and sturdy with a super-long, harmonious finish. At its best: 2026 to 2038.”
Top 10 NZ Pinot Noir and 94 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate “The 2023 Bannockburn Vineyard Pinot Noir is vibrant, lithe, spicy, saturated with red fruit flavor and persistent through the finish. In the mouth, the tannins are chalky, fine and pliable, and they serve to shape the fruit as it flows across the palate. The acidity contributes a little race and pace to the palate, but it all works in concert. This is a delicious wine of personality and elegance but, most importantly, of place.”
96 points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion “What a beautiful-smelling pinot noir from the Bannockburn subregion of Central Otago; 35% whole bunch and matured for 11 months in French oak, 27% new. Tendrils of amaro herbs and struck flint flow down through the ripe, juicy red and dark cherry and damson plum fruits. There are hints of medina spice, dried citrus rind, twiggy bits ‘n’ bobs, Chinese barbecue joint, pomegranate, citrus blossom, thyme and undergrowth. The wine, initially focused in flavours, flairs out on the mid-palate, taking on a composed, graceful and wonderfully complex path across the palate. Fine, schisty tannin and bright acidity play their role nicely and the finish is elegant and all class.”
RRP $104 Our Special Price $85.99 when you buy 6 or more
