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Made by the team at Rockburn. Winery Note: Our Devil’s Staircase wines are inspired by the winding road leading from Queenstown to Kingston along the shores of Lake Wakatipu. Sourced from several Central Otago vineyards, the Devil’s Staircase Pinot Noir takes the willing down into the realm of decadence and Bacchanalian delights. Here, everything is pleasure spiced up with a bit of naughty. The unrelenting Central Otago environment tortures the vines whose twisted limbs produce a wine worthy of absolution; strong and sensual with lashings of dark fruit, sinfully succulent and devilishly good. The flavours are practically immoral,...

One of the (many) attractions to the field of Winemaking is that singular combination of art and science employed to craft each wine, every year. The Science is well defined, and the literature is continually being added to; the Art is not so easy to pin down. It is born of the individual winemaker and their Muse and exists in the heart; it finds its expression within the senses of the imbiber. This wine is the result of our Winemaker let loose to practice his Artistry on fruit from other sites within Central Otago.   Created from a single vineyard site high in the Dunstan foothills this Pinot Noir speaks with great eloquence of its...

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, 97 points. "Sweetly fruited with savoury nuances, showing dark cherry, cured meat, bouquet garni, porcini, and toasted almond characters on the nose. The palate is concentrated with depth and presence, wonderfully complemented by fine, grainy tannins. It's sturdy and captivating, with fabulous complexity and alluring complexity. At its best: 2026 to 2040.  April 2025."     WINERY NOYE: Many grapes are picked. Not all are chosen. But as we seek eloquent expressions of site and season there are some special spots in the vineyard that assert themselves immediately; a row of vines that can...

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, 97 points. "Sweetly fruited with savoury nuances, showing dark cherry, cured meat, bouquet garni, porcini, and toasted almond characters on the nose. The palate is concentrated with depth and presence, wonderfully complemented by fine, grainy tannins. It's sturdy and captivating, with fabulous complexity and alluring complexity. At its best: 2026 to 2040. $99.00. www.rockburn.co.nz. April 2025."   WINERY NOYE   1000 x Individually Numbered Bottles Produced Many grapes are picked. Not all are chosen. But as we seek eloquent expressions of site and season there are some special spots in the...

Winemaker Note: Rockburn Twelve Barrels; the name says it all really. Every year we fill hundreds of French oak barrels with Pinot Noir, and every year I search for those individual barrels that most eloquently speak of site and season. We present the results of that search to you here with a wine that exhibits the attributes I enjoy most about Pinot Noir; subtlety, elegance and personality The 2022 Twelve Barrels Gibbston Vineyard Pinot Noir is a single vineyard wine displaying the elegance, power and grace generated by our Gibbston Back Road Vineyard site. Dark and concentrated, the Twelve Barrels displays...

NZ International Wine Competition 2025, 98 points, Double Gold.   IWC Trophy, Gold Medal May 2026.   James Halliday Wine Companion 95 points.   A cracking pinot noir from the '24 vintage that picked up a double gold medal at the 2025 New Zealand International Wine Show and represents some serious value for money! Bright macerated rapberry and dark cherry fruit cut with hints of exotic spice, dried citurs rind, leaf litter and dried meaty nibs. Juicy raspberry fruit leads the charge here, with silky tannins and a real sense of drinking joy. It's delicious. 95 points Dave Brooks. Feb 2026.   It is fair to say...

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, 98 points. "A magnificent rendition, showing dark plum, baking spice, vanilla, floral, and stylish oak aromas on the nose. The palate is both opulent and elegant, with outstanding weight and persistence. Wonderfully framed by velvety texture and loads of polished tannins, making it structured and sturdy with a long, refined finish. At its best: 2026 to 2040. $99.00. www.rockburn.co.nz. April 2025."   WINERY NOTE: Rockburn Eleven Barrels; the name says it all really. Every year we fill hundreds of French oak barrels with Pinot Noir, and every year I search for those individual barrels that most eloquently...

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, 98 points. "A magnificent rendition, showing dark plum, baking spice, vanilla, floral, and stylish oak aromas on the nose. The palate is both opulent and elegant, with outstanding weight and persistence. Wonderfully framed by velvety texture and loads of polished tannins, making it structured and sturdy with a long, refined finish. At its best: 2026 to 2040. $99.00. www.rockburn.co.nz. April 2025." WINERY NOTE: Rockburn Eleven Barrels; the name says it all really. Every year we fill hundreds of French oak barrels with Pinot Noir, and every year I search for those individual barrels that most eloquently speak of...

Winery Note: Rockburn Fumé Blanc is a handpicked selection of barrels that most eloquently speak of site and season, and exhibit character above and beyond their cradle-mates. Although made from Sauvignon Blanc, what I am seeking is expression of minerality and texture, something far away from the "ordinary" as far as we understand Sauvignon Blanc to be here in New Zealand. Leave your pre-conceptions behind and this wine will open your eyes. Our Fumé Blanc is a single vineyard wine displaying the richness and minerality created from out Parkburn Vineyard site, giving a richer, rounder take on the Kiwi favourite...

Winery Note:   The Rockburn Central Otago Pinot Gris 2025 captures the essence of its cool-climate origins, with fruit sourced from the high-altitude Gibbston sub-region. Known for its slower ripening season, Gibbston delivers grapes with vibrant acidity and expressive fruit character — think juicy pear, white nectarine, and subtle citrus blossom. For this 2025 vintage, our winemaking team has pushed the wine, introducing a touch more skin contact to bring added depth, texture, and a delicate blush of colour. The result is a Pinot Gris with lifted aromatics, generous palate weight, and a whisper of tannin — a subtle nod to...

Gold Medal  - Aotearoa Regional Wine Competition 2024 95/100 - Cameron Douglas MS  "Immediately enticing bouquet with complexity and spice, ripe red berry fruit aromas of raspberry and plums, some blackcurrant and dried herb complexities. Dry and complex on the palate with flavours, textures and a delicious mouthfeel. Judicious use of oak with some toasty spice layers, varietal and new, ripe tannins and backbone of acidity. Well made with best drinking from as early as late 2024 through 2034." - July 2024 5 Stars (95/100) - Sam Kim (Wine Orbit)  - "Seductively perfumed, the enticing bouquet shows dark plum,...

94 points - New Zealand International Wine Show 2025. James Halliday Wine Companion 92 points. A bouyant pinot noir from the strong '24 vintage off Rockburn's Parkburn (85%) and Gibbston Back Road (15%) vineyards, Bright, airy raspberry, redcurrant and red-apple-edged berry fruit with fine spice, a thin layer of biscuity oak, meadow flowers, rose petals, undergrowth and stone. Spacious and stony with a slender palate shape on the finish." Dave Brooks 92 points. March 2026.   Winery Notes:   The 2024 vintage yielded beautiful fruit from each of our sites, which we have simply guided gently through to the bottle with...

Stephen Wong, The Reak Review, 95 points. Perfumed, layered nose, Burgundian floral, savoury, mineral nuances. Fresh, bright and pretty. Already expressive. Concentrated yet open with fine chalky tannins and soft, flowing red fruit. An elegant, silky style with lots of length. This will age by virtue of its balance rather than power or structure 17 Nov 2024.   Rockburn Seven Barrels; the name says it all really. Every year we fill hundreds of French oak barrels with Pinot Noir, and every year we search for those individual barrels that most eloquently speak of site and season. We present the results of that search to you here with a...

Stephen Wond, The Real Review, 05 points. "Perfumed, layered nose, Burgundian floral, savoury, mineral nuances. Fresh, bright and pretty. Already expressive. Concentrated yet open with fine chalky tannins and soft, flowing red fruit. An elegant, silky style with lots of length. This will age by virtue of its balance rather than power or structure 17 Nov 2024}   Rockburn Seven Barrels; the name says it all really. Every year we fill hundreds of French oak barrels with Pinot Noir, and every year we search for those individual barrels that most eloquently speak of site and season. We present the results of that search to you here with...

  Sam Kim , Wine Orbit, 95 points. "Finely expressed and enticing, the bouquet presents nuances of wild strawberry, watermelon, crisp apple, and lemon peel. It's equally appealing in the mouth, delivering juicy fruit flavours with fine texture and bright acidity, finishing persistent and delectable. At its best: now to 2028."   Rockburn’s beloved Stolen Kiss Rosé 2025 is back, blushing and ready to steal hearts (and glasses) for its nineteenth dazzling season. Born out of a cheeky moment in 2006 when winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis “stole” some Pinot Noir grapes destined for Rockburn’s...