2023 Prophets Rock Sophora Pinot Noir
2023 Prophets Rock Sophora Pinot Noir

2023 Prophets Rock Sophora Pinot Noir

95 pts
Prophet's Rock |Central Otago |Pinot Noir
A single-barrel, no-fuss Pinot from Paul Pujol that captures Prophet’s Rock’s highest, wildest Bendigo site in its purest and most unfiltered form.
Price:
$87.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship, only 1 unit left
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Description

Sophora is Paul Pujol’s most personal Pinot. It comes from Prophet’s Rock’s highest vineyard in Bendigo, a steep, rocky site that pushes the vines to their limit. Just one barrel is made each year, all whole bunch, wild ferment, and bottled without fining or filtration. It’s as close as you’ll get to Paul’s pure, unedited version of the vineyard.

The wine itself is tight and earthy, more savoury than sweet. Think red cherry, thyme, dried rose, and a bit of that Central Otago dust. The tannins are firm but not overdone, and there’s a line of acidity that keeps everything sharp and fresh. It’s leaner than most Bendigo Pinots, built to evolve slowly rather than flash early.

Only 276 bottles were made. It’s rare, sure, but what matters more is that it feels honest - a wine made by hand, not by formula.

Erin Larkin

Erin Larkin

The Wine Advocate 95 Points

This is the first time that this cuvée has been bottled separately, and the vines are grown in very fine schist gravels; the vineyard site has essentially been the recipient of every glacial deposit in the area. The winemaking is mostly the same as the Home and Oleria (Rocky Point) vineyard wine. This vintage sees slightly less time in oak but more time in bottle, but otherwise, it gets the same treatment as the other wines—most particularly, very gentle extraction during fermentation. Aromatically, the 2023 Sophora Pinot Noir is mineral and rocky, with a pure core of pomegranate pearls, pink peppercorn and crushed rocks, with pressed flowers and green olive tapenade as well. The palate is silky and plush, with seamless fruit and phenolic interplay. The whole berry/destemmed fruit is silky and fine. This bears all the hallmarks of the Prophet's Rock Pinot Noir style, viewed here through the lens of the 2023 vintage. It's a beautiful wine. It's good to see the three wines from the three sites here together, as they sort of span the valley. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under Diam.

James Suckling

James Suckling

James Suckling 95 Points

Aromas of dark cherries, wild raspberries, orange peel and lead pencil. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins and vivid acidity, giving notes of blackberries, blood oranges, dried herbs and crushed river-stones. Balanced and bright with a real purity and a mineral edge. The premier release of this new addition to Prophet’s Rock pinots. Drink or hold.

This flagship wine showcases our Kopuwai Delta Vineyard in the Pisa sub-region, Central Otago. This beautiful site overlooks the powerful Clutha River and provides a wonderful contrast to our two Bendigo Vineyards.

Tasting Notes
A beautifully expressive nose of bramble fruits, wild strawberries, mountain herbs and violets. The palate continues with raspberries, blueberries and boysenberries, with silky, fine-grained tannins and a pure line of acidity, pulling it all through to a long and elegant finish. An ethereal Pinot Noir, showing the clarity of the vineyard in the bottle.

Cellaring: Decant for full expression in its youth and cellar with confidence for 10+ years from vintage.

Vineyards
This wine showcases our Kopuwai Delta Vineyard in the Pisa sub-region, Central Otago. This beautiful vineyard sits on a high terrace directly overlooking the Clutha River, at the delta where it runs into Lake Dunstan. Protected by towering mountains on both sides of the valley, this warm site has been shaped by the passage of multiple glaciers. Kopuwai Delta is situated at a narrow point in the valley between the Pisa and Bendigo ranges and lies at 225m elevation. The low vigour, free-draining, very fine schist-based soils feature loess, alluvium, quartz and rounded river stones.

A strong focus on viticulture is the foundation of the winemaking approach. Yields are consistently managed to 30-35hl/ha or approximately 4ton/ha.

Winemaking
The handpicked fruit is destemmed and fermented using only indigenous ‘wild’ yeast. A key feature of our vinification is extremely low extraction, all our small open top tanks are only hand-plunged once during fermentation. The wine then spends 11 months in barrel (20% new) and undergoes indigenous malolactic fermentation.

Vintage Notes
We had a mild finish to winter and a stable spring with no frost in the region after the first week of October when the vines were barely getting underway. There was regular small rainfall through November which gave the vines energy for flowering and fruit set in December when the weather was both warmer and dry. January and February were warm and very dry until late February when the weather cooled thanks to a rain event that fell as snow on the mountains. March was mild but not hot with only five days reaching 25°C early in the month. From the middle of March until the end of harvest in April, the weather remained stable allowing us the flexibility to pick on flavour and ripeness.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type Red
Body Medium Bodied
Variety Pinot Noir
Country New Zealand
Region Central Otago
Reviewed By The Wine Advocate
James Suckling
Critic Score 95
Size 750ml
Vintage 2023
Closure DIAM Cork

Prophet's Rock

The Prophet's Rock project was founded in 1999.

The man behind the wines, Paul Pujol, has an enviable resume, having made wine all around the world.

After working his way through the French regions of Languedoc and Sancerre, he was perhaps the first foreign winemaker ever to be invited to head up an Alsatian winery, Kuentz-Bas where he made their six Grand Cru wines for three years. He also spent a formative vintage at Chambolle-Musigny in Burgundy which set the tone for his winemaking style under his own label.

The wines of Prophet's Rock come from two vineyards, the Home Block and the Rocky Point vineyard. Paul's mission is to let these vineyards speak for themselves.

Owner and founder Paul Pujol Prophet's Rock

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