Taking cues from Pinot Noir's spiritual homeland of Burgundy, the Rippon estate makes naturally pure and expressive wines, but they do it from the shore of a glacial lake, named Wanaka, at the foot of the Southern Alps. Just looking at the landscape, it's no surprise that this is a place for distinctive wines: cold nights and extra-long, temperate days throughout Summer imbue the wines with layers of intense, crystalline aromas and sleek textures energized by a mouthwatering, crunchy-fruited edge.
The Rippon estate was a labor of love for founders Rolfe and Lois Mills since the Central Otago didn't have the booming commercial wine scene it does today. After some toes-in-the-water trials, the couple planted their first Pinot Noir vines in 1982, making it Central Otago's first commercial vineyard in around 100 years. Given the mostly untouched landscape, it was only appropriate that they farmed organically from the start. When their son Nick took up the torch in the early 2000s, he brought lessons learned from his time in Burgundy (Domaine Confuron and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti) and Alsace (Albert Mann) to the vine-growing and winemaking at Rippon, even making it a certified biodynamic estate. The vitality in the soils and maturity of the vines give Rippon's wines great natural depth and grace, though bottle production is naturally quite limited.
JAMES SUCKLING 99 POINTS - "Aromas of raspberries and plums with forest fruits and violets. Orange blossom, too. Medium- to full-bodied. Superbly polished tannins that run vertically down the wine and take you very deep and long. It's seemingly endless. Dark strawberry and raspberry and hints of terra cotta and dark stones. It's complete and moving to taste now. Drinkable even now, but try to be patient. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Best after 2026, but already stunning."
WINE ADVOCATE 97 POINTS - "The 2020 Tinker's Field Mature Vine Pinot Noir is, as per usual, restrained on the nose but concentrated and driven in the mouth. This is a wine immune to hyperbole, and so eloquently of its place, that it is often a wine I am proud to show internationally. It never fails. The tannins are sleek but totally within the wine. The tannins are finely milled, ductile, gray in every respect and delicate but not brittle. The 2020 seems more open-armed than the 2019 before it (not better, not worse—just different), and it is making for pleasurable drinking here today. A beauty. The vines face north and are sheltered and protected behind Ruby Island. The vineyard is warm and on pure schist. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under Diam."
WINERY NOTES - A unique parcel within Rippon, Tinker’s Field is a gentle, north facing slope formed by an ancient ejection cone of coarse schist gravels. Tinker’s Field is home to the oldest vines on the property and is named after Rippon’s visionary founder, Rolfe Mills (Tink to his friends), and the land that he had dreamed of farming since childhood.
Form and feel: Layered, detailed, compressed power, precise.Time, patience, skill and perseverance have bequeathed us this opportunity: to make a truly fine wine naturally. It was a joy to work with from the outset and made it into the bottle with nothing added and nothing taken away. It’s completely alive. Let the adventures begin.
The Rippon estate was a labor of love for founders Rolfe and Lois Mills since the Central Otago didn't have the booming commercial wine scene it does today. After some toes-in-the-water trials, the couple planted their first Pinot Noir vines in 1982, making it Central Otago's first commercial vineyard in around 100 years. Given the mostly untouched landscape, it was only appropriate that they farmed organically from the start. When their son Nick took up the torch in the early 2000s, he brought lessons learned from his time in Burgundy (Domaine Confuron and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti) and Alsace (Albert Mann) to the vine-growing and winemaking at Rippon, even making it a certified biodynamic estate. The vitality in the soils and maturity of the vines give Rippon's wines great natural depth and grace, though bottle production is naturally quite limited.
JAMES SUCKLING 99 POINTS - "Aromas of raspberries and plums with forest fruits and violets. Orange blossom, too. Medium- to full-bodied. Superbly polished tannins that run vertically down the wine and take you very deep and long. It's seemingly endless. Dark strawberry and raspberry and hints of terra cotta and dark stones. It's complete and moving to taste now. Drinkable even now, but try to be patient. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Best after 2026, but already stunning."
WINE ADVOCATE 97 POINTS - "The 2020 Tinker's Field Mature Vine Pinot Noir is, as per usual, restrained on the nose but concentrated and driven in the mouth. This is a wine immune to hyperbole, and so eloquently of its place, that it is often a wine I am proud to show internationally. It never fails. The tannins are sleek but totally within the wine. The tannins are finely milled, ductile, gray in every respect and delicate but not brittle. The 2020 seems more open-armed than the 2019 before it (not better, not worse—just different), and it is making for pleasurable drinking here today. A beauty. The vines face north and are sheltered and protected behind Ruby Island. The vineyard is warm and on pure schist. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under Diam."
WINERY NOTES - A unique parcel within Rippon, Tinker’s Field is a gentle, north facing slope formed by an ancient ejection cone of coarse schist gravels. Tinker’s Field is home to the oldest vines on the property and is named after Rippon’s visionary founder, Rolfe Mills (Tink to his friends), and the land that he had dreamed of farming since childhood.
Form and feel: Layered, detailed, compressed power, precise.Time, patience, skill and perseverance have bequeathed us this opportunity: to make a truly fine wine naturally. It was a joy to work with from the outset and made it into the bottle with nothing added and nothing taken away. It’s completely alive. Let the adventures begin.
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