Scout Central Otago Pinot Gris 2024 (6 Bottles) Waipara, New Zealand

This year’s wine comprises fruit from two vineyards: Lapis Lazuli high on the Bendigo Terrace and Packspur in Lowburn. It’s Sarah’s second year working with the organically managed, cool, north-facing Lazuli site. The soils are degraded schist with loess on top.

It’s incredibly steep, with slopes reaching 450 metres, whereas most of the broader Central Otago region tops out at 300 metres. The much cooler Packspur Vineyard, planted in 1992, sits in the sandy/loamy foothills of the Pisa Range.

At 350 metres, it’s another cool, breezy site with a long growing season, lending depth and complexity to the generosity of fruit from warmer Bendigo. The grapes were picked by hand and pressed as bunches; the bunches and berries were so tiny this year that skin contact wasn’t needed. Half the crop fermented in steel tanks, while the rest went to old puncheons.

The wine matured on lees for four months before being bottled.