Central Otago, New Zealand
Otago is an area located in the inland part of the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The motto for the area is "A World of Difference" Vast open plains and rugged landscapes make it one of the most scenic wine regions in New Zealand. It's also home to some of the best Pinot Noir in the world.
Hugged by mountains and interlaced with lakes and deep river gorges, the vineyards in Central Otago are truly spectacular. Here, the cool climate combined with glacially derived soils, means vineyards produce a highly elegant Pinot Noir and some quietly impressive white wine varietals and the occasional pink rosé. All of the main winegrowing sub-regions lie within close reach, with the distinctive mountainous terrain providing each with a unique climate, aspect and altitude.
Climate and Landscape
There are few wine regions in New Zealand, and perhaps the world, quite as striking as Central Otago. Snowcapped mountains can be found almost 360° around you and there are rushing rivers and canyons aplenty. It’s a dramatic landscape, wild and untamed, apart from the neat rows planted in vineyards and orchards. No surprise then than Central Otago was one of the key destinations where Lord of the Rings was filmed.
The dramatic landscape and mountain chains surrounding the Central Otago wine region also lend themselves to great grape growing. Central Otago has the closest to a continental climate that can be found in New Zealand’s islands. It is protected from any maritime influence by the surrounding mountain chains, which create a rain shadow and prevent any wet and humid fronts coming in. This rain shadow, in fact, makes it the driest of all the wine regions in New Zealand – a major plus for healthy grape growing.
It is also a very sunny climate in the summer. The dry weather means there’s little cloud cover and, at this southerly latitude, the summer has long days with many hours of sunlight. In the summer it can still be light at 10pm.
Soils
There is a variety of soils in the Central Otago wine region, depending on the sub-region or even the vine location within the same vineyard. Soils are usually well-draining with significant quantities of mica and schist, as well as silty loam. There’s also pedogenic lime here, which is similar to limestone but it is a process that is developed over thousands of years by pressure (rather than marine deposits, which form limestone).
Pallic Soils, the third-most extensive soil order, is covering 12% of New Zealand. They are often formed in loess, a uniform silt-dominated material that is blown off river floodplains and deposited onto the surrounding landscape. Thus, Pallic Soils often suffer winter wetness, as water perches above the fragipan, and are also prone to summer drought. Subsoils are pale-coloured (“pallic”) because of their low contents of iron oxides and, in some cases, gleying.
Wine subregions
Gibbston: Situated east of Queenstown along the spectacular Kawarau Gorge, Gibbston is the highest sub-region, with its cooler climate and north-facing hillside vines ripen later than neighbouring sub-regions, giving lighter though still intense wines.
Bannockburn: On the south bank of the Kawarau River, at the southern terminus of the Cromwell Valley, the vineyards occupy one of the warmest, driest sites in the region. Harvest can be up to a month ahead of other sub-regions, and the wines produced are highly distinctive and complex.
Cromwell, Lowburn and Pisa: This area is located on the western side of Lake Dunstan stretching north for some 25km from the township of Cromwell. The majority of plantings are situated on the lower terraces and valley floor running parallel to the snow-capped Pisa mountain range producing seductive wines. There, on Lake Dunstan's steep east bank, is located Stag's Run vineyard – the home of Midalidare New Zealand Pinot Noir.
Bendigo: Northeast of Cromwell, Bendigo has vines planted on gentle north facing slopes. Wide-scale plantings on stony soils capture the extreme climates hot summer sun and cold clear nights.
Wanaka: A couple of mountain ranges and 80km north of Queenstown, beautiful Wanaka is cooler and slightly wetter than the rest of the region. The lake provides welcome reflected radiation and mitigates frost producing delicate and vivid wines.
Alexandra: The southerly sub-region, the climate is dry and runs to extremes in both summer and winter. The marked daily climatic variations right up to harvest give vividly varietal, aromatic, finely structured wines. Central Otago’s first vineyard was planted here in 1864.
