Valli Bannockburn Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023

In the words of Grant Taylor, the pioneering winemaker of Valli, “When you drink a Valli wine you are enjoying more than just a wine, you are experiencing a place.” True to his words, the wines of Valli are well known in the wine world; Taylor has been awarded three times for ‘Best Pinot Noir’ at one of the world’s largest wine competitions in London.

Located in New Zealand’s Central Otago on the South Island, Valli is named after Taylor’s great-great grandfather who immigrated from New Zealand from an Italian winemaking background. The winery was established in 1998, with a keen focus on creating wines that highlight the diversity among Otago’s subregions, a task Grant has taken on with considerable results.

The winery is based around the close-planted estate vineyard in Gibbston and produces a dry Riesling from vines in the Alexandra basin, and a botrytised Riesling, Dolce Vita, from Lowburn fruit. Valli also makes a range of impressive single-vineyard Pinot Noirs from the Otago subregions of Bannockburn, Bendigo and Waitaki Valley.

Grant’s name is synonymous with Otago Pinot Noir. He has been crafting wines in the region since 1993 when there were only 20 hectares planted - today there are over 2,000. Grant’s accomplishments are well known in the wine world and he is credited with winning the Best Pinot Noir Trophy at a major International Wine Competition in London an unprecedented four times – a feat achieved by no other winemaker in the world.

Over the past 25 years he has made the first wines for a number of iconic Otago wineries, but now the serious focus is on his own creation, Valli.

Established in 1998 and named after his Great-Great Grandfather, Giuseppe Valli, who immigrated to New Zealand from an Italian winemaking background, Grant founded Valli with the aim of creating true representations of Otago’s subregions with unflinching intensity and purity. This was also a first for the region – no one had attempted to capture, let alone master the developing subregional plot that has now begun to unfold as the next exciting chapter in the Otago wine story.