2014 The Fusilier Pinot Noir

The Top 50 New Zealand Wines of 2016 - A slightly reticent nose shows laid back red-cherry fruits, crushed roses and rosehip. Some sappy elements too, and there's a focus on red cherry fruits here that belies the wine's Bannockburn location. The newest vineyard in the Two Paddocks collection. The palate has impressive acidity, which holds upbeat red-cherry and boysenberry flavors long and expansive. Glossy polished tannins wrap neatly and frame impressive length and focus.

The first vintage from Sam Neill's fourth and avowedly final vineyard acquisition, a mature six hectares of Pinot on Felton Road in Bannockburn named in honour of his soldier father (Harrow, Sandhurst and all that). Smooth, polished fruit with a hint of coffee (though no excess oak). Already accessible but no hurry to drink this. Good freshness.

(from a vineyard at the end of Felton Road in the Cromwell basin; the only single-vineyard Pinot made here in 2014, and the first vintage for this bottling): Bright, dark red. Darker aromas of cassis, raspberry, flowers and musky spices, complicated by sexy soil tones. Sappy, spicy, floral and concentrated, offering lovely sweetness but also a distinctly savory character to its raspberry and fresh herb flavors, then firms up considerably on the lingering finish. Strong mineral energy leaves the mouth vibrating. This is built to age.