Wine Review: Collaborative Cuvée Pinot Noir from Prophet's Rock

Collaborations between winemakers are a cool thing. We have seen them here; Rhone star Chapoutier and Victoria’s Jasper Hill is one that stands out for starters. In Europe, Portugal’s Dirk Niepoort is a master, with amazing projects with Spanish superstars Telmo Rodriguez in Rioja and Jesús Barquín from the awesome sherry producer Equipo Navazos along with a stunning, wacky Riesling collab called ‘Fio’ with the wonderful Kettern family from Piesport in Germany’s Mosel wine region.

New Zealand is hip to it, too. One of my favourite Central Otago wine producers, Prophet’s Rock from the Bendigo sub-region between Cromwell and Wanaka, is on board. It’s the meeting of two wine minds from different hemispheres — the Kiwi (Prophet’s Rock’s winemaker Paul Pujol) and the Frenchman (François Millet from Burgundy rock stars Comte Georges de Vogüé) and the resulting wine is a beauty.

The grapes are sourced from the Prophet’s Rock home vineyard overlooking Bendigo; a high, steep glacial terrace with a mix of schist, quartz, clays and pedogenic lime. If you’re not into the geeky stuff like François flying in his own hand-pumps and equipment to make it Burgundy-style, I’ll spare you the details. All you need to know is it is fantastic.

Beautifully detailed, pure wild cherry fruit, finely aromatic with notes of game, spice and wildflowers; fruit more in the red spectrum than dark it crackles with energy and precision. It’s just gorgeous. The next day the second half of the bottle was even better – funkier, gamier, more aromatic, certainly more complex, it was wonderful. A wine for a special occasion or putting down in the cellar.

PROPHET’S ROCK 2016 Cuvée Aux Antipodes Pinot Noir

prophetsrock.co.nz