The vast windows of Carrick Winery's restaurant has always been a room with a spectacular view but now the winery owners have built a new cellar door with an even better view of Bannockburn Inlet, pictured in this post. I visited two weeks ago. It was a rainy day but it's hard to dampen my spirits in Central Otago, due to the breathtaking beauty of the region.
The new Carrick Winery cellar door and it is open every day of the year except Christmas Day, reflecting Carrick's commitment to guests on foot, car or bicycle - this winery is perfectly positioned on the Lake Dunstan Wine Trail, which is one of the many ever expanding cycle trails in Central.
For those who may already have visited Carrick Winery and are familiar with the restaurant, the new cellar door also offers a food experience, along with hosted wine tastings of the winery's relatively small scale cellar door only wine offerings. Two of these are included in my highlights in this column, which I had the pleasure of tasting with winemaker Rosie Menzies.
The new cellar door also features cellared older wines from previous vintages and has excellent pizza on hand. What more could you want in the middle of a walk or cycle?
So, to the wines.
Highlights of Carrick tasting, April 2025
18.5/20
2024 Carrick Organic Bannockburn Riesling RRP $32
This is one of two Rieslings made at Carrick and is a relatively dry style with 15 grams residual sugar (RS) and great vibrant acidity to balance the floral aromas, so that this wine finishes on a crisp, lingering and deeply flavoursome style with a medium body. Excellent drinking now and can improve for at least five to six years, possibly a long longer, given the right storage conditions; cool and dark.
17.5/20
2023 Carrick Organic Bannockburn Pinot Noir Rosé RRP $30
Pale salmon colour, dry taste, lively acidity makes this wine very refreshing and tangy and it is bone dry with less than one gram RS.
17.5/20
2024 Carrick Pot de Fleur Bannockburn Pinot Noir RRP $45
Grippy tannins, juicy mid palate and interesting savoury flavours, thanks to 100% whole cluster fermentation in small containers. This wine is made 100% from clone 115 Pinot Noir grown on a different vineyard block (all on site, estate owned vineyards) each year. It spent nine months in older oak barrels and 300 cases were made. It has a depth and deliciousness that highlights unfined, unfiltered Pinot Noir in a different light.
18.5/20
2022 Carrick Organic Bannockburn Pinot Noir RRP $51
A delicate style of Pinot Noir with fruit forward flavours and a silky texture thanks to 19% new oak, which allows the fruit to show at its finest.
18.5/20
2021 Carrick Magnetic Pinot Noir RRP $80
The Magnetic is the name of an old steam powered river boat that now lies in the creek at the bottom of the Bannockburn Inlet; it was powered by coal to move gold around.
The gold now is this powerful, 100% Abel clone Pinot Noir which has juicy acidity with a long, succulent style. Made in small volumes and only available at the cellar door. Beautiful drinking now and will be outstanding in time to come; seven years+.
18.5/20
2022 Carrick Arthur’s Vineyard Pinot Noir RRP $80
A darker, more tannic style of Pinot Noir made entirely from clone 10/5 Pinot Noir; original plantings at the winery and all vines on their own roots. A very different style and less fruit forward right now than the Abel clone Magnetic, which suggests this wine has a long life ahead and will drink best in another six to seven years.
Find out more at carrick.co.nz
