Awards, Ratings & Reviews
97/100 — James Suckling · 2023 Vintage
"A gorgeous pinot, this shows pure and focused strawberries and dark berries as well as lavender and sandalwood. Flint too. Medium-bodied with ultrafine tannins and a long, racy finish. It's sleek and curated. Terrific. So drinkable now but will age beautifully."
97/100 — Erin Larkin · Wine Advocate · 2023 Vintage
"The wine is eminently red fruited and spiced, with raspberry seed, sweet pouch tobacco, crushed rocks, iodine, dried herbs and brine. It has energy, detail, poise and life, with chalky, vineyard-derived tannins that elongate the finish."
About This Wine
The 2023 Prophet's Rock Home Vineyard Pinot Noir is the flagship Pinot Noir of Prophet's Rock, sourced exclusively from the estate's Home Vineyard in the Bendigo subregion of Central Otago. Planted between 1999 and 2001 on an elevated glacial terrace, the vineyard features ancient clay, schist, quartz and rare pedogenic limestone soils that produce Pinot Noir of remarkable finesse, mineral precision and longevity. The vineyard has been fully certified organic since 2018.
The exceptional 2023 vintage delivered ideal growing conditions, producing fruit with outstanding concentration, aromatic purity and natural balance. Hand-harvested grapes were fermented using indigenous wild yeasts with extremely gentle extraction, being hand-plunged only once during fermentation. The wine matured for 17 months in French oak barrels (35% new) before being bottled unfiltered under Diam closure, preserving both site expression and ageing potential.
The bouquet is beautifully layered with wild strawberry, dark cherry, raspberry, lavender and orange peel, complemented by crushed rock, sandalwood, dried herbs, spice and subtle smoky oak. The palate is medium-bodied yet intensely concentrated, combining silky texture with vibrant acidity, ultra-fine tannins and a distinctive mineral backbone that carries through an exceptionally long, precise finish.
Already captivating in its youth, the 2023 Home Vineyard Pinot Noir possesses the balance and structure to reward extended cellaring over the next 15 years or more.
Specifications
Vintage: 2023
Grape Variety: 100% Pinot Noir
Region: Bendigo, Central Otago, New Zealand
Sweetness: Dry
Maturation: 17 months in French oak barrels (35% new)
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Diam Cork
Drinking Window: 2025–2040
