Burn Cottage - Sauvage Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2021 750ml (13.5% abv)

wow, rare top tier Pinot from New Zealand, only get a few bottles

Has Felton Road finally met its rival? In the three decades since its founding in 1992, Felton Road has been the unequivocal champion of Central Otago, racking up accolades and firmly establishing Central Otago as one of the world’s premier regions for Pinot Noir. Nearly a decade later, Burn Cottage was by Americans Marquis and Diane Sauvage. Enlisting the help of Littorai’s Ted Lemon as consultant, they began crafting excellent wines a mere stone’s throw away from Felton Roads vineyards in Bannockburn. And with the 2021 Vintage, Burn Cottage is setting a new standard for the quality coming out of Central Otago. Take, for instance, their Sauvage Vineyard Pinot Noir. Sauvage is situated in a bank of gently sloping foothills known as the Bannockburn Sluicings–the equivalent of New Zealand’s Cote d’Or. To the direct south is Felton Road’s Macmuir Vineyard, while to the North is Muirkirk, the most prized site in Mount Edward’s holdings. Central Otago terroir does not get any better than this. I had the pleasure of tasting this exceptional Pinot at trade tasting this year and was utterly blown away. Focused and powerful, there’s an intense darkness of color and depth of flavor. Brambly black berry, ripened strawberry below a perfume of wildflowers and a seam of salinity that bring verve and vibrancy to the palate. But what I loved most about this wine was the incredible balance and detail. It has character and excitement, but a tightly knit balance among all of its components, leaving a dense, exquisitely composed wine that puts it at the forefront of New Zealand’s best wines. This is a serious achievement. -- Thomas Smith

97 pts RP/WA

 is supremely pretty. It's elegant and fine and still powerful, thanks to the Bannockburn area; however, the wine itself shows rose petals and spring flowers, graphite and pencil lead, white pepper and tapenade. Svelte and sleek, this is composed and detailed and so, so good. I am (mostly) resisting hyperbole and adverbs here. This is a standout wine from a superstar producer—an asset for the region and indeed the country (and the New World in general). 13.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

96 JS

Juicy and lively strawberries, red plums and lavender followed by vanilla beans, salted caramel and a touch of squeezed orange wedge. Mineral. Medium-bodied wine with fine velvety tannins and acidity. Very precisely framed wine with great harmony. It’s beautiful already but will age gracefully. 

 95 WS

Well-structured, with a firm backbone to complement the dense core of flavors, including blackberry, wild blueberry and red fruit notes. Accents of Earl Grey tea and white pepper, plus hints of dried rose petal, forest floor and salted black licorice, linger on the long, expressive finish. Drink now through 2033.

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Sourced from the Sauvage Vineyard, 5.8 hectares planted in 1999, average vine age 22 years old
Sauvage Vineyard is located on the Northeast side of Felton Road at 216-220 meters ASL, where it sits between the Felton Road MacMuir Vineyard and the Mt Edward Muirkirk Vineyard
The site’s low-vigor soils are comprised of lakebed/river silts, loams and quartz sands, along with quartz and schist gravels, with pockets of pedogenic lime, a unique attribute of semi-arid soils
Hand-harvested and fermented for around 17 days with indigenous yeast, 7% whole cluster
Aged in French oak, 18% new
Bottled unfiltered and unfined

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farming/cellar: prac. biodynamic, 

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