There are a small number of small but very serious producers of Pinot Noir in Central Otago. Invariably they have had considerable experience with the variety and plenty of opportunity to craft top wines in the region over the years. Steve Davies is one such man in making his Doctors Flat Pinot Noir. Steve’s 3 ha vineyard off Hall Road in Bannockburn was planted in 2002 to clones 114, 115 and 777. The wine is one of the more complex and well-structured of the region’s bottlings, and Steve credits the very old soils which are estimated to be 480,000 years old to be a significant influence on the tannin framework. Steve also reckons the soil health is of extreme importance and he promotes the natural diversity of the micro-flora and micro-fauna that exists there. Of course, Steve’s guiding hand plays a role as he guides the wines towards how interprets the vineyard expression given that growing season. His approach in doing so has resulted in him talking a "lighter hand” with punch-downs and extraction to enable "seeing the vineyard more clearly”. The wine has what I reckon is a cult following, and quite rightly so. I tasted the 2015 vintage Pinot Noir wine during a visit to Central Otago in November last year (click here to see my report). I review the wine here, with half a year’s extra time in bottle. www.doctorsflat.co.nz
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