ROCKBURN

Rockburn have a winning way with Pinot Noir, honed over decades of absorbing the lessons of their searingly austere landscape and its idiosyncracies. There is no doubt that Central Otago and its extremes have charmed the enigmatic variety and made it feel at home, but it nonetheless takes fastidious attention to detail along with a hands-off, 'let the terroir do the talking' approach by chief winemaker Malcolm Re-es-Francis and his team to produce these masterful wines.

The fruit is hand-harvested off the company's Parkburn and Gibbston Valley vineyards. Each site contributes its own unique characteristics that provide the winemaking team with a palette of distinctive flavour profiles. Rockburn's outstanding record is not confined to their headlining Pinot Noir, but extends throughout the entire portfolio. At Glengarry, we've been championing Rockburn's wines from its inception back in 1991. What has always impressed us is the high standard and sheer consistency, year after year, that these wines continue to display. So yes, we're big fans.

Malcolm Francis

Four years studying Microbiology at the University of Otago drove Malcolm into a life of wine, beginning in Marlborough in 2000, sojourning at Lincoln University for a year and culminating in Central Otago. Malcolm comes into the Rockburn fold from his four-year tenure as Felton Road Wines’ Assistant Winemaker. His time there was devoted to learning about and making fine Pinot Noir, Riesling and Chardonnay and included three vintages working in Oregon, USA. His passion for wine is now one of the driving forces behind the future direction of Rockburn’s wine portfolio.