Rockburn needs little introduction, the sheer quality and consistency winemaker Malcolm Rees Francis achieves the winery’s signature. In producing their estate wine every year, they fill literally hundreds of oak barrels with Pinot Noir. As each is nursed by Malcolm on its journey through the cellars, they are regularly tasted. While one purpose of this is to monitor the evolution of the wine, the other is Malcolm’s quest to find the individual barrels that most eloquently speak of the vintage and the site. Those barrels are set aside as they are identified, destined for the barrel range. The name says it all: Eight Barrels, Eleven Barrels – you get the drift. This year’s barrel release is particularly unique in that there is not one on offer, but two. For the first time, there is a release that consists exclusively of Pinot Noir from Gibbston, and one made exclusively from the fruit of Parkburn.
