Thoughtful and evocative, the Two Paddocks 2024 shows exotic wild herb, red brick and schist derived aromatics. This drives the entry into an enveloping rich, warm, succulent and elegant mouthfeel. The wine is tightly packed and complete, showing tactile finesse and persistence whilst also delivering generosity and enjoyment in its youth.

Two Paddocks was established in 1993 by Kiwi actor, Sam Neill, who was raised in the South Island of New Zealand, and still calls it home. Initially Sam bought a paddock in Gibbston and aimed to grow a small amount of his favourite grape – Pinot Noir – with the hope of producing enough wine for his friends and family.

Back then, Central Otago was in the very early days of winegrowing, so to buy and plant Two Paddocks was a huge leap of faith. Nowadays the region is 80% planted in Pinot Noir and has arguably been New Zealand’s most successful region with this variety.
Two Paddocks now consists of four small vineyards in the Gibbston, Alexandra (Earnscleugh) and Bannockburn sub-regions of Central Otago. The vineyards are grown within a holistic farming model, which aims to naturally recycle all farm animal and vine by products back into composts and nutrient rich soil enhancers that are then applied to the vineyards. Over time, this will make the Two Paddocks portfolio entirely certified Organic.

The flagship from Two Paddocks, the estate Pinot Noir is an organically grown barrel selection produced from the four Central Otago vineyards - The Fusilier in Bannockburn, First Paddock in Gibbston, Last Chance and Red Bank in Alexandra. These small sites are high-density  planted in a range of clonal material, cropped to under 5 tonne per hectare with most vineyard practices carried out by hand. An exemplary Central Otago style, which will be enhanced with bottle age.

Harvest started on the 26th March at The Fusilier, Bannockburn and finished on the 17th April at The First Paddock, Gibbston. Two Paddocks’ Viticulturist, Mike Wing, celebrated his 20th vintage this year and described this significant season as “A game of two halves”.

The first half was characterised by the coldest Spring in five years and hence there was a lot of frost fighting with overhead water, which in turn stimulated weed growth. The finale was a hail event in Alexandra in January that affected some of the vineyards and so the early part of the growing season is aptly described as challenging.

February and March then delivered warm settled weather and ripening progressed well. There was no Autumnal frost fighting and overall the 2024 crop was clean, ripe and at optimum quantity levels.

Drink now and up to 12 years. This wine will drink well in its youth and has the potential to age.