2018 Prophet’s Rock ‘Home Vineyard’ Pinot Noir
Region: Central Otago, New Zealand
Viticulture: Sustainable
Winemaker: Paul Pujol
Established: 1999
The foundation of this wine has a focus on delivering low-yielding concentrated fruit that expresses their Home vineyard in Bendigo Sub-region in Central Otago. In the winery, they employ traditional old world techniques where the grapes are handled gently and the wines are fermented using only the indigenous yeast from the vineyard.
The wines are aged in barrel for 15-18 months before being bottled unfiltered, and are cellared before release. Since the first release in 2005, the Prophet’s Rock Pinot Noir has consistently been one of the best-reviewed Pinot Noirs in New Zealand.
Sommelier’s Recommendation Finding value in Central Otago Pinot Noir is tough especially when you expect the top quality that you know the region can produce. Prophet’s Rock walks that tight rope between great quality and excellent value. An elegant Pinot Noir that shows gorgeous fruit and a deft touch in the cellar by Winemaker Paul Pujol. This wine will get better and better with a couple of years in the cellar but can be enjoyed now with an hour or so in the decanter.
Founded in 1999, Prophet’s Rock’s goal was to find sites in Central Otago like no others. Two vineyards were established in the Bendigo sub-region: The Prophet’s Rock Home Vineyard and, subsequently, the Rocky Point. Both are steep and elevated, and each is distinctive – The Home Vineyard with its rare mix of soils, including schist, clay and chalk, and Rocky Point with its stony ground and almost treacherous slopes.
Winemaker Paul Pujol refined his trade working in France’s classical wine regions, the Languedoc, Sancerre and, crucially, Burgundy and Alsace. His traditional aesthetic — respectful, patient, vineyard-focused — resonates in our wines, and frees them to express the unique tenor of our sites. His winemaking is a sensitive, site-driven, and empathic approach which aims to express the beauty of the place rather than pronounced winemaking characters. Each glass, then, embodies both the old world and the new, past and present unified by place.
