Scout
Central Otago, New Zealand.
Available nationwide.
Sarah Adamson and Greg Lane met in Central Otago over small batch premium Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, so their new digs back in this region has provided them with a homecoming of sorts. The couple’s careers have taken them all over the world, including the Loire, Sonoma Valley, Rheinhessen, the Adelaide Hills and Marlborough, and this collection of regions has provided them with a focussed background on extreme growing conditions, premium parcels and a leaning towards terroir-expressive, fragrant, juicy reds and textured, aromatic whites.
Sarah is currently the face of Scout (Greg is taking a back seat while he makes wines for Amitsfield), and while the spotlight will gradually shift to the immediate area, this intrepid négociant always aims to work with premium fruit from interesting sites anywhere across the South Island of New Zealand. Organically grown and sustainably farmed vineyards are sought out—Sarah believes this always shows in the wines, and that fruit grown as naturally as possible results in better flavour and transmission of the site into the wine. Scout’s wines change every year, but currently include a barrel-fermented Lowburn Chardonnay, a whole-bunch Southern Valleys Pinot Noir and a lees-matured Waipara Riesling, amongst others.
You might think that the label might refer to their scouting the country for the perfect parcels, but the brand is actually named after Jean Louis ‘Scout’ Finch, the narrator of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout is both a questioner and an observer, reflecting the team’s ethos to both let the grapes and the land do what they must, but question their own practice and ideals to ensure fruition is always complete.
Wine
Pinot X Pinot
Variety
Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris
Terroir
Pinot Noir from heavy clay soils and limestone
Pinot Gris from alluvial gravel
Viticulture
Pinot Noir: Organic (BIOGro certified)
Pinot Gris: Sustainable (SWNZ certified)
Winemaking
Pinot Noir wild-fermented in separate 500 kg vats according to site, then sealed for one week to encourage carbonic maceration before some light foot treading and racking to old oak for malolactic fermentation. The Pinot Gris also wild-fermented, left on skins for 10 days, pressed and blended back into the main wine before bottling in winter.
Marlborough Pinot Gris
Variety
Pinot Gris
Terroir
Awatere: alluvial gravel silt loam over old river stones, with cooling easterly winds off the Pacific Ocean.
Wairau: free-draining alluvial soils, slightly warmer and protected from the cool winds.
Vineyard
Awatere, Wairau (both Marlborough)
Viticulture
Sustainable (SWNZ certified)
Winemaking
Occurs in three parts before blending: two-thirds of the juice crushed and left on skins for two hours before pressing and racking to tank (fermentation with Chardonnay yeast); two barrels wild-fermented on full solids; and the final 10% wild-fermented on skins for 10 days before pressing.
Southern Valleys Pinot Noir
Variety
Pinot Noir
Terroir
Heavy clay soils, west-facing slope
Vineyard
Tilly's Vineyard
Viticulture
Sustainable (SWNZ certified)
Winemaking
Hand-picked grapes fermented with 30% whole bunches and twice-daily pump-overs (no plunging). Pressed after 28 days on skins and aged in old barriques.
Central Otago Chardonnay
Variety
Chardonnay
Terroir
East-facing, schist and wind blown loess over deep, free-draining gravels
Vineyard
St Bathans
Viticulture
Sustainable (SWNZ certified)
Winemaking
Hand-picked and then foot-trodden for two hours before wild fermentation in French oak barriques (20% new). Maturation on lees, unsulphured, over winter (malolactic allowed to occur spontaneously), before blending and bottling at the end of summer.
Waipara Riesling
Variety
Riesling
Terroir
Glasnevin stony soils, old vines on their own roots
Vineyard
1000 Voices
Viticulture
Sustainable (SWNZ certified)
Winemaking
Hand harvested, chilled overnight and whole-bunch pressed, long and slow. After settling overnight, racked into old neutral oak and stainless steel for a long fermentation with natural yeast. Fermentation stopped at the perfect sugar/acid balance before maturation for 10 months on lees.
Orders
For all order enquiries please get in touch.