TWO PADDOCKS THE FUSILIER PINOT NOIR 2023

New Zealand Organic Wine Awards 'Sustainable Vineyard of the Year' 2024

"We grow our premium Two Paddocks Pinot Noir entirely on our four small vineyards in Central Otago. In some exceptional vintages, listening carefully, we realise that one of these sites may have something extraordinary to say in its own right. It is only then that we will make one of these very rare single vineyard wines." – Sam Neill, Proprietor

The Fusilier Vineyard is named in honor of Sam’s father, Major Dermot Neill, a soldier in the Royal Irish Fusilier Regiment for twenty years before returning home to Dunedin, New Zealand, where he ran the family Wine & Spirit business, Neill & Co. Planted entirely in 2000, The Fusilier is 5.6 hectares of pinot noir, on rolling northerly facing terraces at the western end of Felton Rd and bordered by the vineyard of the same name. Soils on the terraces consist of deep alluvial fans, which are made up of varying depths of silt, sand and gravel layering all derived from mountainous raw schist parent material.

Dark blackberry, brooding whole-bunch spice and dried herb aromatics on the nose. The palate shows warmth, richness, and well-integrated oak support. Coverage is full, with an elegant thread, resolved tannins and persistence.

Rated Outstanding & 96/100 Cameron Douglas, August 2026 (2023 Vintage)
"I love this wine, it always speaks to the vineyard, sweet scents of soil and roses then red berry fruits and gentle savoury poise. A dry wine with an abundance of polished tannins and backbone of acidity, it is generous and taut, complex with the voice of pinosity including cherry blossoms and red currants, baking spices of French wood and wood smoke with a clove and nutmeg like suggestions. Lengthy, complex, youthful and delicious with best drinking from 2030 through 2040+."

Reviews for the 2022 vintage below…

97/100 Susie Barrie MW & Peter Richards MW (UK), Susie & Peter New Zealand Wines of the Year 2026 (2022 Vintage)
"The Fusilier in question is Sam Neill’s father, Major Dermot Neill, a soldier in the Royal Irish Fusilier Regiment for 20 years before he returned home to Dunedin (New Zealand), where he ran the family wine and spirit business, Neill & Co. Sam Neill, although best known for his stellar acting career, started Two Paddocks as a wine passion project in 1993, assembling various vineyards in the southern and western parts of Central Otago, before adding this one, in more central Bannockburn, in 2013. The rolling north-facing terraces over alluvial silt, sand and gravel, typically give a darker-fruited expression of Pinot than some of the lighter Two Paddocks bottlings, exacerbated by a relatively warm vintage in 2022. Winemaking involved 82% whole bunch, wild yeast ferments in large-format oak, then a further 12 months of ageing in oak (23% new). The perfume is instantly attractive, with smoky, flinty red and black berry fruit and charred herb notes. On the palate, it’s tense and grippy, with chalky tannin – complex and long, with a wonderful flow and presence. It’s a wine with tremendous resonance and a light touch despite the complexity. As with the estate Pinot (see above), this wine just kept getting better the more we revisited it. Fabulous stuff."