Wine: Devil’s Staircase

Central Otago

Central Otago is the world’s most Southerly wine region. Located at the tip of the South Island in New Zealand with an elevation of 200 to 450 meters above sea, Central Otago has become very well known not only as an incredible wine producing region, but also as the picturesque location for the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Everything about Central Otago can be described as larger than life. The rivers and lakes are an incredible azure blue and almost seem to glow. It may be the most beautiful place on earth! The predominant soil type is a free draining schist-silt alluvial loam, perfect for cool climate grape varieties. Vineyards are located in three different valleys: the Gibbston Valley, where Peregrine have recently completed their new winery building, is a small, narrow strip of plantable land at the bottom of the ranges. It is an incredible site and only workable by hand. The Bannockburn valley, that along with Gibbston, is producing internationally acclaimed Pinot Noir and has a larger, flatter, valley floor with warmer temperatures. The Cromwell Basin area, bordered by Lake Dunstan, is the third valley floor – where Peregrine holds selected vineyard sites. This is also a warmer and flatter valley compared to Gibbston. Queenstown is the major city of the region.

Rockburn

Nestled on the 45th parallel we share a climate that is similar to Burgundy the great Pinot Noir producing region of the world. Our vineyards are bounded on the west by mountains on whose seaward slopes are rain forests, which receive 5000mm of rain a year. To the east is a barren, moon-Iike landscape that receives less than 25mm of rain a year. Situated between these extremes are our vineyards that produce not only Pinot Noir of stunning quality (gold medals at New Zealand Wine Society Royal Easter Wine Show, Bragato Awards, Air New Zealand,and Winestate Wine of the Year) , but also medal winning Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris , Riesling and Gewutztraminer. In early 2006 we opened our own winery and tasting facility in Cromwell to handle the 06
vintage. Our winemaker is Malcolm Francis who was previously with Felton Rd. 

Earlier vintages were made by Rudi Bauer at the Quartz Reef Winery
All our wines exhibit strong varietal characteristics, highlighted in the white varieties by crisp acids, which are typical of the region. It has also become apparent that like Burgundy there are distinct ‘appellations’ within Central Otago. One has only to taste a Lake Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir to experience its perfumed nose, typically violets, and earthy, forest floor sensations on the palate. Compare this with a Lowburn/Bannockburn Pinot Noir with its darker colour and fuller, sweeter fruit. For this reason to fully exploit the potential of the region it is a distinct advantage to have vineyards in different ‘appellations’.
Rockburn Wines has invested in two sub regions within Central Otago with a total land area of 38 hectares, 90% of which is now fully developed. When all the sites are in full production we will have 14,000 cases of wine for sale annually.

Our wines are available throughout New Zealand and are exported to UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Japan and Asia.

Inspired by the winding road leading from Queenstown to Kingston along the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Devil’s Staircase is the newest addition to the Rockburn Wines portfolio.

Sourced from Rockburn’s Central Otago vineyards, the Devil’s Staircase Pinot Noir and Devil’s Staircase Pinot Gris take the willing down into the realm of decadence and Bacchanalian delights. Here, everything is pleasure spiced up with a bit of naughty.

The unrelenting Central Otago environment tortures the vines whose twisted limbs produce a wine worth of absolution; strong a sensual with lashings of dark fruit, sinfully succulent and devilishly good.

The flavours are practically immoral - the Pinot Noir full of black Doris plums, flame-toasted oak and bramble fruit crème brûlée, while the Pinot Gris screams of Nashi pears, mango and lemon zest. One sip of this ‘forbidden fruit’ will leave you with an insatiable desire for more.

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