A dry cold 2020 winter continued into a dry spring that was dominated some severe wind and snow events. The critical flowering month of December was still relatively cool and experienced 50mm of rain over three days. As a result, flowering was both late and drawn out. Finally, the summer heat arrived in mid-January and lasted until mid-March but the critical cell division stage for the berries was also cool and along with the challenging conditions at flowering, resulted in crop levels being 30-40% down in many of the vineyard blocks. There were two pieces of very good news though – the smaller bunches and small berries were much easier for the vine to fully ripen in late summer and ultimately resulted in densely coloured, aromatic wines. 2020 harvest was one of the most compact that Two Paddocks has seen starting on the 6th of April and all done by the 24th April.

Hand harvested, 89% de-stemmed and given 5-7 days pre-fermentation cold maceration. After an indigenous ferment the wine is given another 5-7 days post ferment time on skins. Wine is then transferred to 1-4 year old French medium toast barriques (4% new oak) for a 9 month maturation in predominantly older oak, before racking and bottling.

"Redcurrant with wild herbs and blackberry follow into a lovely gorgeous mineral flow giving exuberance, freshness and poise, showing complexity and evolving tannins which will age well." Dean Shaw, Winemaker

“I happen to think this is one of the most enjoyable wines we have ever produced.” Sam Neill, Founder