Sanctity of place sits at the heart of Pyramid Valley’s grape growing and winemaking philosophy.
To verify the origin of the Botanicals Collection wines from our Waikari farm - four wines that speak with a unique voice from vineyard parcels located just a few metres apart – we’ve partnered with Oritain in a world first to provide a guarantee that links the wine to the land absolutely.
From earth to barrel to bottle.
Where terroir meets technology - the world’s first origin-verified wines
A great wine reflects the truth of its environment.
The soil, sun, rain, climate and altitude all make their mark.
Some call it terroir. Some call it provenance.
Oritain call it an origin fingerprint.
Even in vineyards just metres apart, the geochemistry of the land differs. As a grapevine grows, it absorbs a unique ratio of elements depending on the mesoclimate, altitude, precipitation, soil type and growing conditions.
Oritain’s science can identify this unique ratio in the soil that is ‘imprinted on’ from grapes to the finished wine creating a scientific link that runs through the land, the vine and the wine. This link remains through the life of the wine, never changing.
“Oritain’s Verification of Origin methodology provides independent provenance assurance that supports the story of the unique terroir of each vineyard parcel sitting within our Waikari farm. We have always been able to taste the difference – now we can prove it. Our ‘wines that breathe of their place’ proposition is now supported by science.”
~Huw Kinch, Pyramid Valley Winemaker
Your assurance of provenance
The Oritain Verification of Origin and Provenance mark is displayed on the wine’s back label in a distinctive QR code providing a direct digital link to the guarantee.
The 2020 Botanicals Collection wines from our Waikari farm were the first in the world to wear this mark, proudly demonstrating to the fine wine lovers of the world that the wine they have in their glass, absolutely comes from its claimed origin and that it is the genuine article. In 2023, we are excited to release the first verified wine from a different vineyard, the 2021 Snake's Tongue Pinot Noir from Central Otago, now also proudly wearing the Oritain provenance mark on it back label.
If you wish to verify the 2020 or 2021 Botanicals Collection wine in your glass is the authentic product, we offer a unique guarantee. Simply keep a sample, make contact and we’ll be in touch with the steps to providing Oritain’s verification.
We embrace the concept of making wine hand in hand with nature using modern science, technology and natural wisdom to create some of the world’s most revered cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. While we take our cues from older philosophies, it is marrying these cues with innovation, inquisitive minds, modern technology and science that sets us apart.
The 2020 and 2021 Botanicals Collections – our origin verified wines
The initial plantings at our Waikari farm were arranged according to specific minute changes in soil composition between the unique limestone and clay particles. These changes reflected the decision to plant either Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.
The Oritain Trustmark verifies that your bottle of Pyramid Valley Field of Fire Chardonnay, Lion’s Tooth Chardonnay, Angel Flower Pinot Noir and Earth Smoke Pinot Noir is the genuine article, grown in the clay and limestone-rich soils of the specific vineyard block it is named after.
In Central Otago, the verification applies to our Snake's Tongue Pinot Noir from our Manata Vineyard. Here, deep in the soil granules of rare paedognic lime lie, creating a high pH environment not unlike the genuine limestone of Waikari.
- 2020 Field of Fire Chardonnay
- 2020 Lion's Tooth Chardonnay
- 2020 Angel Flower Pinot Noir
- 2020 Earth Smoke Pinot Noir
- 2021 Snake's Tongue Pinot Noir
Field of Fire Chardonnay
Viticulture
Planted between 2000-2002 at high density of 11,111 vines/ha and farmed bio-dynamically from inception, Field of Fire is a tiny, 0.3ha southeast-facing block with slightly variable, graduating soils, primarily clays over chalky limestone.
20-25% clay, 5-10% active lime.
Winemaking
Foot stomped and whole bunch pressed. Vineyard yeast ferment, aged in French oak barrels. 20 months on lees in barrels, then aged on light lees for 6 months in stainless steel prior to bottling unfined and unfiltered in June 2022.
Tasting Notes
Golden straw colour with a matt Lisbon lemon hue. Complex medley of grapefruit peel, pine nuts, oatmeal, delicate white flowers and early summer meadow, constrained only by its youth. Cool, racy, almost pure fresh lemonade juice intensity fills the early palate; steel, saltiness, then more mouth-filling with lemon curd, hazelnuts and an almost sourdough maltiness; finishing long with visions of the sea and grapefruit pith. A sensational expression unique to this place and this vintage.
Lion's Tooth Chardonnay
Viticulture
Planted between 2000-2002 at high density of 11,111 vines/ha and farmed bio-dynamically from inception, Lion's Tooth is a steeply inclined, 0.4ha block on east-facing, limestone-clay slopes with great mineral fertility.
30% clay, 15-20% active lime.
Winemaking
Foot stomped and whole bunch pressed. Vineyard yeast ferment, aged in French oak barrels. 20 months on lees in barrels, then aged on light lees for 6 months in stainless steel prior to bottling unfined and unfiltered in June 2022.
Tasting Notes
Golden straw colour with a matt Lisbon lemon hue. Complex medley of grapefruit peel, pine nuts, oatmeal, delicate white flowers and early summer meadow, constrained only by its youth. Cool, racy, almost pure fresh lemonade juice intensity fills the early palate; steel, saltiness, then more mouth-filling with lemon curd, hazelnuts and an almost sourdough maltiness; finishing long with visions of the sea and grapefruit pith. A sensational expression unique to this place and this vintage.
Angel Flower Pinot Noir
Viticulture
Planted between 2000-2002 at high density of 11,111 vines/ha and farmed bio-dynamically from inception, Angel Flower is a steep, 0.7ha north-facing block of coarse, shallow limestone-clay soils.
15% clay, 5-10% active lime.
Winemaking
Carefully hand sorted, fully destemmed and fermented with yeasts from the vineyard, gently fermented using infusion methods for 21-27 days. Settled in tank before being transferred to French wooden cuves and barrel. Elevage of 18 months, then bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Tasting Notes
Moderate red cherry, clear and bright in the glass. Haunting aromas that are difficult to place, cherry pastries, wild forest in the summer, red clover, lavender fields. Autumn raspberries, early season red cherries, blood orange, hints of clove and nutmeg, and the warmth of summer berries, pastry and a savoury twist from the forest; long graceful and powerful; the consummate iron fist in a silk glove; sensational.
Earth Smoke Pinot Noir
Viticulture
Planted between 2000-2002 at high density of 11,111 vines/ha and farmed bio-dynamically from inception, Earth Smoke is an expansive 0.8ha block on east-facing, limestone-clay slopes with strong, beautifully structured soils.
25% clay, 15% active lime.
Winemaking
Carefully hand sorted, fully destemmed and fermented with yeasts from the vineyard, gently fermented using infusion methods for 21-27 days. Settled in tank before being transferred to French wooden cuves and barrel. Elevage of 18 months, then bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Tasting Notes
Moderate black cherry colour, present and brooding in the glass. A deep, dark feel to the aromas, brooding black cherry and dark plum, pure and comforting, orange, Christmas cake spices, hints of warm, damp forest earth, precise and compelling. Lovely warm, ripe black cherry pastry feel on the palate, open and delicious kept in its place by wonderful savoury, sappy nuances, a hint of charcoal and vanilla; dense and long with no hint of sweetness just immaculate ripeness and the feel of clay and chalk. An iron fist in a velvet glove. Incredible.
Snake's Tongue Pinot Noir
Viticulture
0.7ha of Abel clone meticulously farmed to the highest standard in its third year of organic conversion producing stellar fruit. Soils are predominantly loess over deep silts that have developed pedogenic lime deposits.
Winemaking
25% whole bunch with the remainder gently destemmed to maintain a high percentage of whole berries. Fermented using the natural yeasts from the vineyard and winery in an open top concrete tulipe fermenter for 21 days. Aged in 500L puncheons for 12 months, 25% new oak, then blended and aged for a further 6 months in oak prior to being bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Tasting Notes
Complex, alluring nose of rich ripe plums and wild thyme gives a depth and warmth to the aromas that envelop. Plush flavours of ripe rich fruits and spices. The mouthfeel is plush and silky with a velvety texture that holds the intense fruit together. A wine that speaks of this very special piece of land.