Picture this: affordable Pinot Noir
If you're reading this, you don't need me to reiterate the fact that Pinot Noir is a difficult customer when it growing it in a vineyard to and make wine and sell it at a price that appeals to wine lovers and also makes a profit for the producer. But here it is: an affordable Pinot Noir.
Of all the vineyards in Central Otago - and there are many - Folding Hill is one of of a handful (okay, a couple of handfuls) that really speak to the purist in me. It's a small vineyard site in Bendigo, home nearly entirely to Pinot Noir, with half a hectare of Chardonnay, for good measure.
The brand was established in 2003 by two couples but that's all history now. One of those couples; Tim and Nikki Kerruish, now own the site, the brand and the wines. Everything is estate-grown, which is an old school way of speaking about authenticity, which is available in spades in these wines. They are even keeping it in the family with the winemaking these days; their son, Matthew, won the latest Central Otago Viticulturist of the Year competition and is making the wines.
If you've ever imagined Pinot Noir could be rewarding with depth for lower prices than, say, a really good Mediterranean village red, think again
Bendigo, Central Otago and Pinot Noir combine in a single vineyard label that is not marketing itself that way because it's a humble 'village' style of wine offering great value for money and drinkability that is hard to find for devotees of great Pinot Noir.
2024 Ballasalla Pinot Noir RRP $28.99 to $35
As Folding Hill's 'second' label, Ballasalla has always offered exceptional depth of flavour - 'exceptional' because it is affordable in price for a high quality Pinot Noir.
Entirely destemmed, fermented with indigenous yeasts and organically certified with Bio-Gro NZ, this wine spends 11 months in barrels with zero new oak and it's all the better for it. Pure dark fruit flavours sit in a silky framework with spicy nuances and a freshness that leads the cherry, plum, wild berry flavours to a memorable long finish.
