The Aurora Vineyard, Bendigo Syrah, Central Otago, 2006

The Aurora Vineyard is located in Bendigo, an old mining town in Central Otago on New Zealand’s South Island, just a little to the northeast of Lowburn and Mount Pisa, names that will be familiar to anyone who has explored the wines of this region. The vineyard was established in 1998 by a team of five who today are represented in the five vines evident on the label and screwcap capsule of the wine.

Named Aurora after a nearby quartz reef, but also paying homage to the Aurora Astralis, the southern lights which sometimes dance in the night sky over the vines, the vineyard saw its first vintages released this year, principally Pinot Noir 2006, this variety understandably dominating the vineyard, but also Riesling and Syrah from 2005. The wine featured here, the 2006, is thus only their second vintage for this Rhône variety.