Prophet’s Rock
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Paul’s love for Alsace whites whilst working there is the reason he makes both his ‘dry’ whites in oak, low yields and time on lees.
Sourced from Rocky Point vineyard. Yields = 35 hct per hectare of this superb steep site. The 1st major glacier which formed the region didn’t make it to the Rocky Point site and latter ones didn’t expose the Schist as early as the Home Block further North, hence why the Schist hasn’t decomposed, meaning the Rocky Point vineyard is still a solid mass of Rock. This Schist rock is very predominant in the Rocky Point Vineyard – parent material of the whole region. When they do soil testing each year the issue they have is they do not enough nitrogen/organic matter in the soil due to the massive amount of mineral/solid rock that the vines are growing on. To combat this they do cover cropping to help with the nitrogen deficiency, using home-made compost.
A key point that Paul has mentioned in our conversations around his dry whites is the importance of elevage on lees. This was an important lesson he learnt whilst in Alsace, where the ‘greats’ almost always leave the wines post ferment on lees for extended periods, where so often in the new world for Riesling and Gris the wines are moved to tank/bottle in just a few months post primary ferment. Paul’s white’s are bottled just before the following vintage.
Hand Picked – whole bunch pressed – slow over 6 hours. Settled overnight in tank – then transferred to barrel – takes as much fine/fluffy lees as he can.
Wild Ferment in seasoned barrel (100% old). Slow ferment, 3 to 4 months due to temperatures. Once the ferment finishes, Paul doesn’t take off any lees for the entire elevage. Bottled before the start of the next harvest – 11 months approx. No Malo. Between 5 to 8 grams residual sugar. No Malo. Filtered due to sugar.
“An attractive nose of lemon curd, fresh thyme, rosemary, white peaches and freshly cut grass. Medium-bodied. Mineral and succulent with rounded fruit character. Fresh acidity. Delicious and dry. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling
Highlighted by many as one of if not the best true Alsatian style Gris from New Zealand. Paul emphasises often that there are ‘No second-class citizens in the vineyard”. His point here is that often white varietals are cropped twice as high as Pinot Noir in New Zealand, whereas his Riesling, Gris and Chardonnay are given equal respect in terms of yields, a key part Paul believes to showing the site in these whites. Sourced from one parcel in the Rocky Point vineyard (Paul has a spot in this vineyard with a higher % of Clay, good for this varietal) and one vineyard on the west bank of the lake in Pisa.
A key point that Paul has mentioned in our conversations around his dry whites is the importance of elevage on lees. This was an important lesson he learnt whilst in Alsace, where the ‘greats’ almost always leave the wines post ferment on lees for extended periods, where so often in the new world for Riesling and Gris the wines are moved to tank/bottle in just a few months post primary ferment. Paul’s white’s are bottled just before the following vintage.
Yields = 35 hct per hectare. Hand Picked – Very similar wine making to the Dry Riesling. Whole bunch pressed – slow over 6 hours. Settled overnight in tank, then transferred to barrel. Takes as much fine/fluffy lees as he can. Wild Ferment in seasoned old barrel (80%). – Plan to be 100% so it’s just a small part in tank. Slow ferment, 3 to 4 months due to temperatures. Ferment finishes, Paul doesn’t take off any lees for the entire elevage.
Bottled before the start of the next harvest – 11 months approx. Left 8 to 12 grams of residual sugar (Paul reminds me wild ferment rarely goes to dryness). No Malo. Filtered due to sugar.
“Aromas of baked pear and saffron, followed by button mushrooms and savory dried herbs. Off-dry, medium-bodied with a vivid acid backbone. Fascinating wine with plenty of zesty complexity. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling
ROCKY POINT PINOT NOIR 2021
Bottle Shot
The Rocky Point vineyard was planted in 2004. 325 meters above sea level at top,200 meters at bottom. The bottom part of the vineyard overlooks the road runningalong the lake. Overall it’s a slightly warmer site than the Home Block further North.North West facing, but some is West, some North. Lots of topography changes but onaverage its North West. Looks over towards the Pisa ranges. Heavy Schist based soils.
As the label depicts this vineyard is riddled with schist rock, so much so that the PinotNoir is planted on deeper soils than the Riesling and Gris in this vineyard due to thefact that in some parts the mother rock literally is poking out of the top soil.
This wine is predominantly sourced from Rocky Point Vineyard & topped up with aparcel of Home Vineyard Pinot Noir to add structure. Hand picked, 100% de-stemmed.Wild Ferment in open top fermenters. Pigeage – Just one for the whole of thefermentation. Sometimes before finishing just mixes the ferment, putting hosethrough cap into the wine. Paul comments that there is just no need to extract morewith this site. Elevage – approximately 11 months in barrel, 15% new.
HOME VINEYARD PINOT NOIR 2022
Cert organic
Bottle Shot
The grapes are sourced from the Home Vineyard on the impressive North-facing slopes of Chinaman’s Terrace, located in the Bendigo sub-region of Central Otago. Planted in 1999/2000. Starts at 325 meters above sea level, rising up to 400 meters. North West exposition. This stunning site has soil featuring clay and chalk mixed with schist and quartz. To understand the soil type here it’s important to know how the Cromwell Basin was formed.
The site is a mixture of Clay and Limestone. The terrace was formed/carved by a glacier, 650,000 years ago. Then a second Glacier came 400,000 years ago to form further topography changes. Due to the first Glacier creating the first terrace the schist mother rock was left exposed on the top soil. Schist weathers and decomposes becoming fine particles, eventually Clay. Calcium particles within this Schist were released during this decomposition. Because there is Clay it stopped the calcium being washed away creating a layer of calcium on top of the Clay.
Then this changes to chalk/calcium carbonate = Pedogenic lime. The low rainfall of the Bendigo subregion (dry) also helped to retain this soil. This creates gives sandwich of clay/windblown topsoil, limestone and then more Clay.In conclusion – The combination of Clay, Time and Dry climate = gives the possibility to create limestone in an area with no former sea. Pedogenic lime is formed by slow formation of time as opposed to the sea being forced up from below (Parisbasin/Burgundy). It’s a lot younger than the classic limestone found in France. Ironoxide is also present in the sub region.
Low yields = 35hl/ha. The grapes were handpicked and destemmed with a high proportion of whole berries going into the fermenters. Wild ferment. Just one pigeage approx per vintage. The wine spent 17 months in French oak barrels of which 30% were new. Bottled unfined, unfiltered.
“A fantastic pinot with dried strawberries, orange peel, terra-cotta, and dried leaves. It’s full and very layered with creamy and fine tannins that go on for minutes. Plenty of depth and very long with tension and a beautifully creamy, velvety finish.” – 97 points – James Suckling
RETROSPECT PINOT NOIR 2017
Cert organic
Bottle Shot
One specific plot – Chalk is only 50cm down. Seems to bring aromatics and chalky tannin. Perfumed. ‘Anti’ reserve wine ie the wine is a more elegant style as opposed to most reserve wines being bigger, more extracted
Same winemaking as Home Vineyard. Wild Ferment in open top fermenters.
Pigeage – Just one for the whole of the fermentation. Sometimes before finishing just mixes the ferment, putting hose through cap into the wine. Just no need to extract more
Elevage – 30% new barrel – 17 months approx. Bottled unfined unfiltered.
RETROSPECT PINOT NOIR 2018
Cert organic
Bottle Shot
One specific plot – Chalk is only 50cm down. Seems to bring aromatics and chalky tannin. Perfumed. ‘Anti’ reserve wine ie the wine is a more elegant style as opposed to most reserve wines being bigger, more extracted.
Same winemaking as Home Vineyard. Wild Ferment in open top fermenters.
Pigeage – Just one for the whole of the fermentation. Sometimes before finishing just mixes the ferment, putting hose through cap into the wine. Just no need to extract more.
Elevage – 30% new barrel – 17 months approx. Bottled unfined unfiltered.
“Gorgeous aromas of dried strawberry and cedar with some dried flowers follow through to a full body with fine and polished tannins that give the wine tension and focus. Velvety tannins with a creamy finish. Spicy, chocolatey and nutty in the finish. Sexy and seductive. Single parcel. Clone 115. Drink or hold” – 97 Points – James Suckling – Rated number 8 in New Zealand
VIN DE PAILLE 2020
Bottle Shot
One spot – Home vineyard – Pinot Gris. Elevation of home block gives more acidity. There is no botrytis here and late harvest isn’t possible due to cold temperatures but the lack of humidity suits the ‘drying style’ of making sweet wines.
Picked same time as the estate Pinot Gris. As grapes are dried sugar increases as does acidity due to loss of water. Paul is keen to eliminate double handing so the grapes are picked straight into the same trays as they will dry in (if you damage the skins you risk mould). Dried in bunches inside in the trays. Every week the stack is changed in order and each tray is hand sorted every week to check for mould. Drying for approx 30 to 45 days. Pressed into seasoned barrel.
Wild Ferment – takes along time due to the high sugar levels, have to keep the barrel in a ambient area due to the region getting cold. 10 to months on lees. Bottled – Approx – 160 to 170 RS.
“This ancient approach to making dessert wine was extensively researched and first made at Prophet’s Rock in 2016. Since then, it has become a very small but iconic part of our range. Written records of this wine style go back to at least 800 BC. A reference cool-climate region still producing this style is the Jura in France, which Paul visited as part of the research phase. The handpicked fruit is then dried on racks for an average of over two months. Extensive sorting and rotation of the fruit takes place over this time. The naturally dehydrated grapes are then slowly whole-bunch pressed and fermented using only indigenous ‘wild’ yeast. The long, slow fermentation (up to 13 months) takes place in neutral oak barrels and the wine is matured on its yeast lees until bottling” – Paul Pujol – Winemaker