Mt Difficulty Wines

Mt Difficulty's origin story belongs to the moment Bannockburn was finding its identity. In the late 1980s and very early 1990s, a small group of growers had planted four young vineyards on the dry, schist-and-clay terraces of the south bank of the Kawarau River. Each was independently owned and each was too small to support a winery on its own. In 1992 the owners of Molyneux, Mansons Farm, Verboeket Estate, and Full Circle agreed on a handshake to combine their fruit and release wine under a single label, the Gang of Four arrangement that gave Mt Difficulty its commercial start. The mountain rising behind the vineyards supplied the name. In 1862, the early sheep-station founder William Gilbert Rees employed drovers to bring a flock of 3,000 sheep west from Oamaru to the Wakatipu Basin, and the mountain above the bluff at the Kawarau Gorge was the spot at which the drove found itself unable to push the sheep through. The drovers christened the peak Mt Difficulty. Matt Dicey joined in 1998 to oversee the building of the winery and stayed as head winemaker for more than two decades. The first vintage that same year produced a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay; both were sent to the Air New Zealand Wine Awards in 1999, and the Pinot Noir came back with gold, the Chardonnay with silver, an early and unusually loud announcement that Bannockburn could make wine of national class. The handshake held until 2004, when Mt Difficulty Wines Ltd was formally incorporated and the four founding vineyards were folded into the company. The Roaring Meg second label launched the same year.

• Gang of Four formed 1992: Molyneux, Mansons Farm, Verboeket Estate, and Full Circle agreed on a handshake to share fruit and release wine under a single label
• Mt Difficulty itself is named after the mountain above the Kawarau Gorge, christened by drovers in 1862 after they found the gorge impossible to push a flock of 3,000 sheep through
• Matt Dicey joined in 1998 to build the winery and oversee the first vintage; he stayed as chief winemaker for more than 20 vintages
• 1998 Pinot Noir won gold and 1998 Chardonnay won silver at the 1999 Air New Zealand Wine Awards, establishing Bannockburn's reputation overnight
• Mt Difficulty Wines Ltd formally incorporated in 2004; the founding vineyards rolled into the company and the Roaring Meg second label launched the same year

Bannockburn sits on the south bank of the Kawarau River where it joins the Clutha to form Lake Dunstan, in the southern Cromwell Basin of Central Otago. Schist-fingered ridges rise on three sides, and the surrounding mountains rake the prevailing westerlies of their rain. The result is one of the warmest, driest pockets in New Zealand wine: hot summer days with cool nights, a long sunshine count, and rainfall low enough that the area is sometimes called the heart of the desert. The diurnal range is the engine of the wines. Hot days build flavour and tannin; cool nights, drawn off the snow on the surrounding ranges, preserve aromatic detail and acidity. Mt Difficulty's six estate vineyards (Long Gully, Pipeclay Terrace, Target Gully, Mansons Farm, Templars Hill, and Menzies Terrace) are clustered along and near Felton Road on a series of terraces and gentle hill faces. Soils are dominated by the underlying schist and greywacke geology of the Cromwell Basin, with a complex overlay that reflects both natural alluvial deposition and 19th-century gold mining: lochar loess-derived soils on the upper terraces, drought-prone gravels of schist and greywacke with thin silt-and-sand caps on Mansons Farm, variable clays from drought-prone coarse Bannockburn soils to heavy impervious clays on Pipeclay Terrace, and the so-called man-made Bannockburn soils on parts of Target Gully and Long Gully, formed when 1860s sluicing operations stripped the topsoil and exposed coarse mineral profiles. A high natural pH runs through the soils across the estate, a characteristic Bannockburn growers credit for the savoury, structurally serious style the subregion produces.

• Bannockburn sits on the south bank of the Kawarau River in the southern Cromwell Basin, one of the warmest and driest pockets in New Zealand wine and nicknamed the heart of the desert
• Six Mt Difficulty estate vineyards on and near Felton Road: Long Gully, Pipeclay Terrace, Target Gully, Mansons Farm, Templars Hill, and Menzies Terrace
• All six vineyards are named after features of the 1860s Bannockburn gold rush
• Soils mix the underlying schist and greywacke geology with lochar loess on upper terraces, drought-prone schist and greywacke gravels on Mansons Farm, heavy clays on parts of Pipeclay Terrace, and man-made post-sluicing profiles on Target Gully and Long Gully
• High soil pH and large diurnal temperature range are the consistent throughlines and the engine of the savoury, structurally serious Bannockburn style

The Single Vineyard wines are the pinnacle of the Mt Difficulty hierarchy and the most direct reading of Bannockburn site difference available in any Central Otago portfolio. They are drawn from the original four vineyards that came together in 1992 (Long Gully, Pipeclay Terrace, Target Gully, and Mansons Farm) and are released only in vintages the winemaking team considers exceptional. Each vineyard makes a wine that no other site in the lineup can. Long Gully (11.5 hectares, with 7.62 hectares of Pinot Noir on lochar loess soils) is the most powerful of the four, a wine of solid tannic architecture and obvious cellar life, often the slowest to open and the longest to last. Target Gully sits on lochar soils with weakly developed thin clay pans that drain hard and run hot, alongside post-sluicing Bannockburn soils, producing a perfumed, lifted, slightly more aromatic style with the same Bannockburn grip underneath. Pipeclay Terrace ranges from drought-prone coarse Bannockburn soils to impervious heavy clays in the same block; the wine is the most concentrated and structured of the single vineyards, with violet-and-blackberry lift over dense black-fruited weight. Mansons Farm has a small patch of Bannockburn soils on its western edge, with the rest comprising drought-prone schist-and-greywacke gravels under a thin silt-and-sand cover, producing a savoury, gravelly, terroir-clear Pinot Noir. The Ghost Town label, introduced in 2016 as a permanent line, extends the single-site approach beyond Bannockburn to sites in Bendigo and elsewhere in Central Otago. The Ghost Town Pinot Noir from Bendigo is ink-dark, graphite-and-tar perfumed, and powerfully built, a deliberate counterpoint to the Bannockburn house style.

• Single Vineyard wines drawn from the original four 1992 Gang of Four sites: Long Gully, Pipeclay Terrace, Target Gully, and Mansons Farm
• Released only in vintages considered exceptional, in small quantities, and aimed at the long cellar
• Long Gully: 11.5 ha total with 7.62 ha of Pinot Noir on lochar soils; the most powerful and ageworthy expression
• Target Gully: lochar soils with thin clay pans and post-sluicing Bannockburn soils; perfumed and aromatic with the underlying grip
• Pipeclay Terrace: drought-prone coarse Bannockburn soils through to heavy impervious clays in the same block; the most concentrated and structured of the four
• Mansons Farm: drought-prone schist-and-greywacke gravels with a thin silt-and-sand cap; savoury, gravelly, and terroir-clear
• Ghost Town (added 2016): a permanent label that takes the single-site approach beyond Bannockburn, with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah from sites including Bendigo

Below the Single Vineyard wines, the Bannockburn range is the heart of the line and the bottle most people encounter first. The Bannockburn Pinot Noir blends fruit across the six estate vineyards into a wine that reads the house style: black cherry and dark plum, dried herbs and earth, a savoury baseline, and firm fine-grained tannin that gives the wine a serious mid-palate at modest alcohol. Raymond Chan called the 2014 Bannockburn his Wine of the Week with a five-star, 18.5/20 review; Bob Campbell MW awarded 95 points to a later release. The Bannockburn range also includes a Riesling (long a Mt Difficulty strength on Bannockburn's high-pH soils), Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, and Chenin Blanc, with site-specific Pipeclay Terrace bottlings extending the range up. Roaring Meg, launched alongside the company's formal incorporation in 2004, is the second label and the easiest way into the portfolio. The name comes from a stream above the Kawarau Gorge said to be named after a high-spirited young woman who travelled with diggers during the 1860s gold rush. Roaring Meg is built for early drinking and now covers Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. The wines are fruit-forward and accessible, drawn from satellite vineyards as well as fruit not earmarked for the estate range, and are among the most widely distributed New Zealand wines outside Marlborough Sauvignon.

• Bannockburn Pinot Noir is the flagship blend, drawing fruit from all six estate vineyards; the house style is savoury, structurally serious, dark-fruited Bannockburn Pinot Noir
• Critical reception: 2014 Bannockburn was Raymond Chan's Wine of the Week at five stars and 18.5/20; later releases have been awarded 95 points by Bob Campbell MW
• Bannockburn estate range also includes Riesling (a long-standing Mt Difficulty strength), Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, and Chenin Blanc, plus a Pipeclay Terrace single-site white selection
• Roaring Meg launched in 2004 alongside the company's incorporation; second label aimed at early drinking and built at accessible price
• Roaring Meg name comes from a Kawarau-side gold-rush stream said to be named after a high-spirited young woman who travelled with diggers in the 1860s
• Current Roaring Meg lineup: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay

Mt Difficulty has been an accredited member of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ) since the framework's adoption and uses the certification as the floor rather than the ceiling, with the estate continuing to move toward organic practice across its vineyards. The site benefits from Bannockburn's natural defences: cold winters that knock back pest pressure, hot dry summers that suppress fungal disease, and a low rainfall that reduces the need for repeated spray interventions. The winery is built into the hillside under a living roof on the barrel hall and operates a modern wastewater treatment plant. Foley Family Wines, the California-based group founded by Bill Foley, entered an agreement to buy Mt Difficulty in November 2017 for NZ$52 million (around US$35 million); the sale required Overseas Investment Office approval and was completed in 2019 after a year-long review. The acquisition included the winery, the Cellar Door and Restaurant, more than 172 acres of vineyards, and the Roaring Meg label. Matt Dicey stayed on through the transition. In 2021 Greg Lane (a South Australian-trained winemaker with a First Class Honours Bachelor of Oenology from Adelaide who had cut his teeth at Shaw and Smith, worked vintages in France, Italy, and the United States, taken Grove Mill in Marlborough, and most recently led Amisfield in Central Otago) succeeded Matt Dicey as chief winemaker. Lane had been named New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year in 2018. The Cellar Door at 73 Felton Road sits on a rocky outcrop above the winery with a tasting room and a full restaurant open Wednesday to Sunday from 10:30am to 4:30pm, looking south across the Cromwell Basin to Lake Dunstan.

• SWNZ-accredited since the framework's adoption; continuing transition toward organic practice across the vineyards
• Winery features include a living roof on the barrel hall and a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant
• Foley Family Wines agreed to buy Mt Difficulty in November 2017; the sale closed in 2019 after OIO approval at NZ$52 million / ~US$35 million
• The Foley deal included the winery, the Cellar Door and Restaurant, more than 172 acres of vineyards, and the Roaring Meg label; Matt Dicey stayed on through the transition
• Greg Lane appointed chief winemaker 2021: New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year 2018, previously winemaker at Amisfield in Central Otago and earlier at Grove Mill in Marlborough
• Cellar Door and Restaurant at 73 Felton Road open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:30am to 4:30pm; tastings are NZ$20 per person and walk-ins welcome