Pyramid Valley Snake's Tongue Pinot Noir 2022

This is the second release of Pyramid Valley’s Snake’s Tongue Pinot Noir from the estate’s impressive Mānatu vineyard, located in the Lowburn sub-region of Central Otago. Planted in the mid-2000s by Jean and Roger Gibson, the former Lowburn Ferry property sits on a gentle, north-facing slope in the foothills of the Pisa Ranges. A key trait of the site is its soils: loess over deep silts that have developed pedogenic lime deposits. With high pH and suitability for growing world-class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, these soils proved the main drawcard for winemaker Huw Kinch, viticulturist Nick Paulin and owner Steve Smith MW.  The 10.2-hectare property is home to a patchwork of Pinot Noir clones—Abel, 667, 777, 114, 115, 943, 828, 115 and clone 5—playing into Kinch’s preference for clonal mix in the vineyard and the winery. The Snake’s Tongue block is a 1.9-hectare plot in the southeast corner of the vineyard, with this release drawn from a 0.7-hectare parcel of Abel clone planted in 2007. (The remaining 1.2 hectares comprises new high-density vines—clones 828, 943 and 115—planted in 2018/2019.)

Pyramid Valley Lions Tooth Chardonnay 2022

Biodynamic. This site takes its name from the vineyard’s abundance of dandelions (dent-de-lion—‘lion’s tooth’—in French). The original 0.4 hectares of vines were planted in 2000 at a density of 11,111 vines per hectare, with a further 2.8 hectares planted between 2018 and 2020, though the majority of the fruit for this wine (89%) comes from the 2000 plantings. The biodynamically farmed Lion’s Tooth is a steeply inclined, east-facing site on soils described as having a “nut and crumb structure and great mineral fertility”. It’s the classic limestone and clay of the area but with a higher balance of clay (30%) than Field of Fire.