Do you enjoy pinot noir? If you buy Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, the celebrated Burgundy with monastic origins in the 13th century, you can expect to pay about $40,000 per bottle. Could the price of a New Zealand pinot noir ever approach such heights?
Akarua was established by a former mayor of Dunedin, Sir Clifford Skeggs, in Central Otago in 1996. However, in 2022, the Skeggs family sold the Akarua brand, and 34.5 hectares of vineyards and winery at Bannockburn, to Edmond de Rothschild Heritage, a Paris-based company with vineyards in France, Spain, South Africa and Argentina.
During an April 2023 visit, the group’s chief executive, Baroness Ariane de Rothschild, made no secret of her company’s ambitions for Akarua. The Otago Daily Times reported: “She believed wine from the region had the potential to reach even greater heights and to be marketed in the super-premium sphere, traditionally filled by pinot noir from Burgundy.” Watch this space …
Edmond de Rothshild Heritage has also invested in Marlborough, buying Rimapere vineyard, at Rapaura, in 2012. Today, Rimapere produces 200,000 bottles of sauvignon blanc per year, sold in 80 countries.
Rimapere Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023
★★★★½
This estate-grown wine was handled in stainless steel tanks. Bright, light lemon/green, it is fresh, vigorous and medium-bodied, with ripe, tropical fruit flavours, gentle lees-ageing notes adding complexity, lively, balanced acidity and a persistent finish. Best drinking 2025. (12.5% alc/vol) $30
Rimapere Plot 101 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022
★★★★★
Full of youthful drive, this refined wine was estate-grown, hand-harvested, and fermented in a 50/50 split of tanks and French oak barrels. Mouthfilling and sweet-fruited, it has deep, ripe, tropical fruit flavours, hints of biscuity oak, and a dry, sustained finish. Best drinking mid-2025+. (13% alc/vol) $45
Akarua The Siren Bannockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2022
★★★★★
Akarua’s top pinot noir (at this stage) was selected from the estate’s best vineyard blocks and barrels, and oak-aged for 18 months. Deep ruby, it is a classy, very elegant wine, full-bodied, with concentrated cherry, plum, spice and nut flavours, good tannin backbone and a very harmonious, rich finish. Best drinking 2027+. (13.5% alc/vol) $97-$110
Wine of the week
Akarua Bannockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2022
★★★★½
Estate-grown, hand-picked from 26-year-old vines, and matured for nine months in French oak barriques, this bright ruby red has a fragrant, youthful bouquet. Mouthfilling and finely textured, it is a very graceful red, with strong cherry, plum and spice flavours, gently seasoned with nutty oak, fresh acidity and gentle tannins. Verging on five-star quality, it should be at its best 2026+. (13% alc/vol) $38-$45
