Central Otago
Home to the southernmost vineyards on earth and a leading source of New Zealand's earthy, elegant pinot noir.
About the region
Central Otago lies at the far south of New Zealand's South Island, in a country whose vineyards are the southernmost in the world and the first on earth to see the sun each day, thanks to New Zealand's location close to the International Date Line. New Zealand is most widely known for its racy, vibrant sauvignon blancs and its earthy, elegant pinot noirs, and Central Otago is one of the country's leading pinot noir regions. Pinot noir has proven hugely successful here in a very short period — plantings doubled nationally in the decade between 2003 and 2013 — and because it is such a new phenomenon, growers and winemakers are still discovering which sites and methods suit it. Much of the quality traces to the so-called Gumboot (or Abel) Clone, smuggled in from France in a rain boot in the 1970s and now behind some of the country's finest pinot noirs. The coolness of the climate is the factor that most influences New Zealand's grapes: a cool, steady climate lets fruit ripen evenly and gently over a long growing season, culminating in a harvest that can fall anywhere from March to May, and gives the grapes a good amount of natural acidity.
