Rockburn ‘Eleven Barrels’ 2022

19/20 (95 pts) - Candice Chow for Raymond Chan Wine Reviews
"Bright light ruby-red even colour throughout. This has a gentle complex bouquet with dark cherry plum thyme sweet spice and toasty oak. Medium-full bodied dark cherry and plum aromas melded with thyme cinnamon nutmeg unfolding milk chocolate and a hint of caramel. The fruit has a lovely ripeness in the dark-toned spectrum and elegant acidity. The mouthfeel is refined; silky tannins reflect integrated oak and linger with alluring toasty elements. This enticing Pinot Noir possesses black fruit; integrated oak elevates a toasty and silky palate and lends a satisfying lingreing finish. Match with roasted lamb and duck over the next 10 years. Fruit from ParkburnVineyard clone Able fermented in 7-tonne fermenter 8 days cold soaked fermented over one week to 13.5% alc 10 days post-fermentation maceration aged 14 months in French oak 27% new oak".

94 / 100 - David Walker Bell Wine Folio
"A deep ruby colour in the glass with a signature Central Otago perfume of damson rosehip cherry musky asian spice pepper and thyme. The palate is compelling laced with that fleshy fruit and bolstered by granular pliant tannin. A confident acidity sets the tone for a wine that could be moody and dark but is driven by a generosity and plushness that emerges as an exotic headiness. The oak minerality and savoury elements of bracken and peat are neatly tucked-in towards the long harmonic finish".

Rockburn Eleven Barrels; the name says it all really. Every year we fill hundreds of French oak barrels with Pinot Noir and every year I search for those individual barrels that most eloquently speak of site and season. We present the results of that search to you here with a wine that exhibits the attributes I enjoy most about Pinot Noir; subtlety elegance and personality

The 2022 Eleven Barrels Parkburn Vineyard Pinot Noir is a single vineyard wine displaying the power generosity and intensity generated by our Parkburn Vineyard site. Dark and moody the Eleven Barrels displays notes of black cherry thyme and ripe plum with an expressive nose and plush tannins on the palate. With the fine balance of ripe fruit natural acidity and mineral tension this wine truly represents the Pisa sub-region and its complex nature. Expect to see this youthful wine transform and evolve over a decade or more; please be aware a fine deposit may occur as a result of our minimal handling philosophy.