As Wine-Searcher are proud to be sponsors of the Pinot Noir 2025 conference - due to be held in Christchurch in February 2025 - our Wine Director, David Allen MW continues his look at classic New Zealand Pinot Noirs. Here he takes a look at a wine made entirely from fruit the Alexandra sub-region of Central Otago. The wine concerned is Pick & Shovel's Central Otago Pinot Noir from the 2022 vintage.

The Pick & Shovel brand was created in the early 2000s by the Moffitt family who were looking to build on the success they had had with the wines from their tiny Dry Gully Vineyard. Dry Gully was one of the older vineyards in the region, having been established by Bill & Sibylla Moffitt in the early 1990s. Bill had run a successful pub in Alexandra but wanted a change. They had just bought a small plot of land outside Alexandra and decided to plant grapes there. The first vines were planted in 1991 and the first vintage made at Dry Gully was 1997.

The Dry Gully Vineyard is in Earnscleugh, just outside Alexandra, located on North facing slopes of overlooking the Dunstan Ranges. It is one of the older vineyards in the region.
Bill and Sybilla retired from the vineyard over 9 years ago and one of their sons Steve and his wife Annie purchased the brand. Steve had helped his Father plant Dry Gully and Annie became involved in 2003. With a background in sales and marketing Annie helped develop the Pick & Shovel brand, which was first released in 2008 Pick & Shovel was developed to grow the market and provide an outlet for additional vineyards that were coming on stream.

As part of the deal the Dry Gully vineyard and the house were sold. Dean Shaw of The Central Otago Wine Company took over responsibility for making the wine - up until then the family had overseen grape processing. Since 2013 Antony Worch of Alexandra Vintners has been the winemaker for the Pick & Shovel brand.

Winemaker Antony Worch is from Alsace in north east France, and came to work a vintage in Central Otago in 2005. The region appealed to him and his partner Marion, and they kept returning. In 2010 he helped set up Alexandra Vintners, a co-operative winemaking facility. With an approach that prefers minimal intervention, and florality and elegance over big tannic wines.

The Pick & Shovel brand commemorates the gold miners who came to this region the 1860s. The brand remains family-owned, being made only from fruit grown in their own vineyards and by contract growers situated in the Alexandra Basin. The region is about an hours drive from both Queenstown and Wanaka and 30mins from Cromwell. The wines harness the qualities of cool climate varietals grown the world’s most southerly wine region. The cool nights and long hot days, produce a bright fruit intensity that wines from this region are known for.

To find out more about this wine, its pricing and its availability follow this link to the Wine-Searcher website: [ Ссылка ]

To find out more about the amazing event which is the Pinot Noir conference please follow this link: [ Ссылка ]

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