2012 Terra Sancta Pinot Noir Mysterious Diggings Central Otago 750 ml

2012 Terra Sancta Pinot Noir “Mysterious Diggings” … 92pts at the 45th Parallel

They call it “Mysterious Diggings.” The setting is right out of “The Lord of the Rings.” The luscious wild-berry Pinot Noir seems more akin to Vosne-Romanée than Central Otago. Of all the under-$20 Pinot Noir discoveries of the last half-dozen years, this may be the most remarkable. Vivid ruby, rich, and juicy, yet wonderfully mineral, drawn from a steep 10% slope planting just south of the 45th Parallel.

Since the aphid-like pest Phylloxera ravaged Burgundy in the 1870s, nearly every Pinot Noir vineyard in France was grafted onto disease-resistant American rootstock. While the science behind these grafts has been painstakingly perfected over time, many of the most extraordinary Pinot Noirs are drawn from “own-rooted” parcels.

As the owner of a historic plot deep in the forests of Sologne puts it, “We have the luck to possess the oldest vineyard of France, which was planted in 1850 … Wines coming from ungrafted vines give much more complex aromas, a more pronounced red colour, and greater density, volume, and fatness in the mouth. The wines from ungrafted vines have more of everything, and greater length. The rootstock acts as a filter.”

Still, despite the indisputable complexity that comes from Pinot Noir planted to ungrafted vines, few growers in the New World are willing to take the accompanying fiscal risk. Thankfully, that short list includes Mark and Sarah Sancta and their aptly named “Mysterious Diggings,” planted just south of the 45th Parallel in Central Otago on the southern island of New Zealand.

The setting is breathtaking: One part Northern Ireland, another the Santa Barbara coastal range, a third something right out of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. On the Cairnmuir Road side of Bannockburn, The Diggings Vineyard is planted on a high, impossibly rocky outcrop and is one of the highest-elevation plantings in the region. The slope measures a backbreaking 10%.

Looking down, the view of the river as it slaloms around Cornish Point is priceless. Yet enthusiasts worldwide know this spot not for the uniqueness of this panorama, but for the fabulously rich, wild-berry, decidedly Burgundian Pinot Noir that comes off The Diggings Vineyard. With summertime diurnal temperature swings of nearly 50 degrees, the yields off these sandy, silty-clay hillsides, riddled with flaky schist, are tiny — less than 2 tons per acre. Particularly in a superb vintage like 2012, berry size is small and concentration extreme.

Unlike many Kiwi Pinot Noirs, which tend to be forward and fairly simple, the 2012 “Mysterious Diggings” is a wine that leans far more towards Vosne-Romanée than Central Otago, a wine of great wild-berry intensity, but with the length and schist-infused pH that argues for a decade-long stay in the coolest of cellars.

Brilliant ruby. Gorgeous, high-toned aromas of black raspberry, black cherry, boysenberry, and sweet spice, tinged with new-wood vanilla. Rich, juicy, and almost sweet (though the finish is BONE-dry), filled with a luscious core of black raspberry and cherry preserves, braced by terrific mineral backbone that seems more at home in Vosne-Romanée than the Southern Hemisphere. Drink now for its flamboyance and youthful hedonism or lay down for 7-10 years. Superb.

92 points from James Suckling. $30 on release. Just $19 on today’s WineAccess-ONLY Direct Import. Shipping included on 6.