2022 Two Paddocks The Last Chance Pinot Noir, Central Otago

A scented nose of sour cherries, orange peel, dried flowers and baking spices. Medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins and bright acidity. Pristine and focused, with plenty of energy and brightness on the palate. Long, vibrant finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

97 points James Suckling, October 2025

A youthful cherry red in appearance. Aromas of ferrous earth, spice, dried flowers, red fruits, briar and sap. Pretty, elegant, red fruited and textured, with brightness, length and drive. Lovely mouth-feel and presence. Drink to 2035.

95 points Aaron Brasher for The Real Review, November 2025

Fragrant and expressive, yet clearly quite powerful under the lacy layers of violet, anise, raspberry and black cherry, this has firmly chalky tannins underpinning all of the perfume. Lingering and almost delicate on the finish, the medium-bodied palate comes across lighter and more elegant thanks to the notably lively acidity. One to enjoy over a broad window as it slowly softens and gains savoury complexity in bottle. Drink to 2036.

94 points Stephen Wong MW for The Real Review, December 2025

The 2022 Last Chance leaps from the glass with red and black fruit wrapped in a layer of complex and spicy floral notes. Bright and textured, the medium-bodied palate is red-fruited, even and elegant, the fine tannins supporting the delicate but long finish.

This calls for food with freshness at its core rather than richness. Try Filipino chicken inasal — chicken grilled over charcoal after a calamansi, vinegar and lemongrass marinade, or Armenian walnut-stuffed eggplant rolls with pomegranate molasses.

More about this wine

The Last Chance is a two-hectare terrace above the Earnscleugh Valley planted with Burgundian clones of Pinot Noir. It takes its name from the watercourse that runs through it, hand dug by gold miners in the 1860s. The soils here are raw schist gravels that are low in fertility.

The 2022 season started well but turned cool and wet in February. The latter half of the season turned warm, with an early accelerated harvest in the end bestowing growers in the area with excellent quality fruit.

The fruit for this wine was hand harvested and sorted in the vineyard, consisting primarily of the 115 clone of Pinot. The 25-day ferment included 85% of whole bunches and started with indigenous yeasts: a five-day cold soak, ten days at 20–33 degrees Celsius and a warm five-day post fermentation at 22–30 degrees Celsius. The wine matured for 12 months in light to medium toast French barriques, 18% of which were new.

About Two Paddocks

The late Sam Neill started Two Paddocks in 1993 with modest ambitions and two hectares of Pinot Noir in the Gibbston subregion of Central Otago. That vineyard has since been augmented by three other small vineyards in the subregions of Alexandra and Bannockburn, all farmed organically by a team led by viticulturist Mike Wing. The minimal intervention winemaking is in the hands of Dean Shaw, who is consulted by Larry McKenna of Martinborough Vineyards fame.