Why is the rest of the wine world focusing on Central Pinot?

Like New Zealand, Australia offers a number of viticultural sites ideal for the making of world-class pinot noir. Winegrowing here is similarly unfettered by the restrictions imposed by appellation control systems, which are rightly accused of stifling creativity and innovation across Europe. So why are pinot-crazed investors opting for Central Otago ahead of Australia? And, given that the average price of Central Otago pinot noir is well north of $40, are they likely to make a killing in the process?

Blair Walter is the young gun winemaker at Felton Road, the region’s highest-profile winery. He doesn’t attribute the attraction of Central Otago to a single factor. ‘The sheer number of articles written about Central the local abbreviation for the region’s name must give the investor confidence in the region. Others have come here after a lot of tasting and research, realising that Central has the potential to make world-class pinot noir. Some just decide that the region’s sexiness and sheer natural beauty make it a terrific place to have a second business or a second home’, he says.

The Americans to have seriously hunkered down in Central are anything but the lifestyle set. Gary Andreus, a former owner of top Oregon pinot maker Archery Summit is one, along with Dick Berridge, a founding partner in Napa Valley merlot specialist, Duckhorn. They’re joined by wine importer Marquis Sauvage and others like Richard Allen, a national security advisor for Ronald Reagan. They’re all aware that with the high prices being paid in the US for Oregon pinot noir, provided quality is up to it, they should be able to sell all they make in the US at good but very competitive prices.

Most of the foreign investment took place four to five years ago, when with a weak Kiwi dollar buying around 26 UK pence and 38 US cents, top viticultural land was a bargain. Today it’s worth around 36 UK pence and 70 US cents, so investment has slowed somewhat. Although some earlier developments are now for sale, New Zealand’s economy remains as robust as ever without obvious signs of meltdown. Even if it did, most of the wine made in Central is destined for export anyway. It’s a seductive place to invest a dollar or a pound, especially within a comfortable drive of the booming cosmopolitan and world-class holiday escape that Queenstown has become.

Gibbston Valley winemaker Grant Taylor, who also owns the tiny Valli brand, has spent a lot of time in the US. He reckons the travel time from the west coast to New Zealand attracts more Americans there than to Australia. It’s about two hours less on a plane to Auckland than Sydney, with a short skip down to Queenstown. If there’s an Australian destination that most closely matches Queenstown’s combination of high-class wine, investment and lifestyle, it’s Margaret River. To get there, an American would also need to fly right across Australia, before making another trip south.

English marketing consultant Nigel Greening liked Felton Road so much he bought it. Working for BMW while based nearby at Wanaka, he’d developed a vineyard at Cornish Point, adjacent to Felton Road with local pinot noir entrepreneur Alan Brady an Irishman. Then, out of the blue, Felton Road’s founder Stewart Elms, decided to retire. ‘I jumped on a plane from the UK and swapped everything I owned for it’, he says.

Nigel Greening has a very clear understanding of what it takes to produce Central Otago pinot noir. ‘Whether you’re large enough to build a winery or small enough to use a contractor, whatever you do, it will take ten years to break even. You can’t do it on borrowed funds since you’ll never catch up with the interest. The base production cost of regular quality pinot noir is about NZ$12 per bottle, which sells for an average FOB trade price today of NZ$16. There’s not a lot of margin there. We’re at the top end, with all the work in the vineyard done by hand, a fully biodynamic operation and a well set up winery, so our cost is about NZ$15 per bottle. We average around NZ$22 per bottle for export sales.’

According to Greening, only 5 of Kiwi wineries make a profit five years out of five, a situation that is probably replicated in Australia. Felton Road is one of New Zealand’s most profitable and high profile brands, yet despite a NZ$2.7 million turnover this 10,000 case business still makes more money out of cellar door sales than exports.

‘It’s not a get rich thing’, says Greening, who used to promote BMWs. ‘You won’t buy a helicopter by buying a winery.’ For while today Greening might own New Zealand’s hip wine brand, he now drives a Subaru.

Three Top Class Central Otago Pinot Noirs from 2003



2003 wasn’t as warm a year as 2002 and didn’t produce the typically up-front, concentrated and even blocky pinots from that popular vintage. While it has never received the same fanfare, I am confident that 2003’s more refined, silky and elegant pinots are more classical and will ultimately be regarded as superior wines. Here are three of the finest.

Akarua Pinot Noir 2003$65 retail, approx.



Very perfumed and floral, with delightful scents of sweet dark cherries and berries. Supple, fine and elegant, with a firm but unobtrusive underlying chassis of tight-knit tannins, it delivers a beautifully measured and willowy palate of bright pinot flavours. Best drinking: 2008-2011.

Carrick Pinot Noir 2003 $50 retail, approx.



Significantly finer and more silky than the highly acclaimed 2002 wine, with a spicy perfume of rose petals and highly accentuated aromas of red and black cherries. Oak is restrained and sympathetic. Long and smooth, its sappy and brightly flavoured palate reveals pristine fruit framed by classy tannins and fresh acids. Another wine to keep. Best drinking: 2008-2011.

Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2003 $99 retail, approx.



Wild, briary aromas of small dark cherries and chestnuts precede a smooth, very refined and measured palate steeped in dark cherry and cassis flavours. Superbly finished, it delivers intense pinot flavour in a package of elegance and finesse. Remarkably complex for its age, without a hint of premature development. Best drinking 2008-2011. Please login to post comment