Two Paddocks

Two Paddocks began as a personal indulgence with a serious ambition behind it. In 1993, the New Zealand actor Sam Neill, raised on a sheep and grain farm in the South Island and the son of a Dunedin wine and spirits merchant, planted five acres of Pinot Noir on what he later described as an unpromising sheep paddock at Gibbston, just outside Queenstown. His filmmaker friend Roger Donaldson bought the paddock next door and planted it at the same time, hence the name Two Paddocks. The block was put in to Pinot Noir clone 5 with an upright Lincoln selection on the side, in collaboration with Gibbston Valley founder Alan Brady who had pioneered commercial vineyards in the area a decade earlier. The first commercial Two Paddocks wine was released from the 1997 vintage, after several years of waiting through Central Otago's hard winters and short growing season. By 1999 the wine had begun to attract attention beyond the actor-as-vintner novelty, and Sam Neill committed seriously to growing the estate.

• Sam Neill is a New Zealand actor and proprietor whose family wine merchant business in Dunedin was founded by his grandfather Sidney as Neill and Co; his father Dermot Neill ran it after a career as a major in the Royal Irish Fusiliers
• First Two Paddocks vines planted 1993 at Gibbston, Central Otago, in five acres of Pinot Noir; Roger Donaldson's adjacent paddock gives the estate its name
• First commercial vintage released from the 1997 harvest; collaboration with Alan Brady of Gibbston Valley underpinned the earliest vintages
• Neill's stated original goal was to make world-class Pinot Noir from the deep south of New Zealand; that aim has anchored every expansion since

Between 1998 and 2014, Sam Neill expanded Two Paddocks into a four-vineyard estate spanning the three principal Central Otago sub-regions. The Last Chance came in 1998, a roughly two-hectare terrace perched above the Clutha River near Alexandra in the Earnscleugh district, planted to Burgundian Pinot Noir clones 5, 6, and 115 on the new owner's first day. Its name was lifted from an old gold miners' watercourse, hand dug in the 1860s, that still cuts through the block. Red Bank followed in 2000, a former Crop and Food research station on Strode Road in Earnscleugh that became the home farm and now houses approximately 5.6 hectares of vines, a Riesling block, and a working orchard with apricots, cherries, apples, pears, lavender, saffron, and even truffles. The Fusilier was the fourth and final acquisition in January 2014, when Two Paddocks bought the former Desert Heart vineyard at the western end of Felton Road in Bannockburn, six hectares of north-facing Pinot Noir originally planted in 1999 and now sitting next to the celebrated Felton Road vineyard. The Fusilier name commemorates Sam's father, the late Major Dermot Neill of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. The 2014 acquisition gave Two Paddocks its singular position as the only Central Otago producer with estate land in Gibbston, the Alexandra Basin, and the Cromwell Basin all at once.

• The First Paddock (Gibbston, planted 1993): the original block on Gibbston Back Road, around 4.6 ha of Pinot Noir at altitude in upper Gibbston, planted to clone 5 plus an upright Lincoln selection; listed for sale in late 2021 but still part of the working stable
• The Last Chance (Earnscleugh, Alexandra Basin, 1998): about 2 ha of Burgundian Pinot Noir clones above the Clutha River, named after a 19th-century gold miners' watercourse; among the world's most southerly commercial vineyards
• Red Bank (Earnscleugh, Alexandra Basin, 2000): the home farm and largest single site at approximately 5.6 ha of Pinot Noir with a tiny half-hectare clone 110 Riesling block; soils are well-draining schist loam over alluvial fan
• The Fusilier (Bannockburn, Cromwell Basin, 2014): six hectares of north-facing terraces at the western end of Felton Road, formerly the Desert Heart vineyard planted in 1999; named for Sam's father Major Dermot Neill

Central Otago sits near the 45th parallel south, sheltered from the Pacific by the Southern Alps and one of the few continental-climate wine regions on earth. The diurnal swing is severe, with hot dry summer days followed by cold nights that hold acidity in the fruit, and the growing season is short but intense. Two Paddocks' four sites trade on those three valleys' distinct geographies. Gibbston is the highest, coolest, and most marginal of the three, producing Pinot Noir of perfume, savoury herbal lift, and elegant red-fruit drive from a long, slow ripening at altitude. The Alexandra Basin to the south is warmer in the day but more exposed and continental, sitting on deep alluvial schist fans and producing Pinot Noir with darker fruit, structure, and a wild herbal edge driven by the surrounding tussock country. Bannockburn, in the Cromwell Basin to the north, is the warmest and most consistent ripener of the three, on clay-influenced terraces facing north over Lake Dunstan, and is known for richer, riper, and more powerful Pinot Noir styles. Across the whole estate the soils share a foundation of weathered schist and glacial alluvium of silt, sand, and gravel, the wider Central Otago signature shaped by the last ice age.

• Central Otago is one of the world's southernmost wine regions, near 45°S; cool continental climate with very high diurnal range, short intense growing seasons, and reliable late-summer ripening
• Gibbston (highest, coolest): perfumed, herbal, structured Pinot Noir; First Paddock site
• Alexandra Basin (continental, southerly): darker-fruited, wild-herb-edged Pinot Noir on schist-influenced alluvial fans; Last Chance and Red Bank sites
• Bannockburn (warmest, in the Cromwell Basin): riper, richer Pinot Noir on clay-influenced north-facing terraces; The Fusilier site

Two Paddocks farms all four vineyards organically, certified by BioGro New Zealand from the 2017 vintage onwards. The viticulture is hands-on and low-input: cover crops are sown between rows, prunings are composted and returned to the soil, livestock graze in winter, no synthetic herbicides are used, and every grape on the property is hand-picked. Vineyard manager Mike Wing has run the farming side since 2004 and just completed his 20th vintage in 2024, working across all four sites and the home farm at Red Bank. In the cellar, Dean Shaw has been the Two Paddocks winemaker since 1999, working from The Winemakers cooperative facility in Cromwell. The single-vineyard Proprietor's Reserves use a high proportion of whole-cluster fermentation, typically 50 to 70 percent, and indigenous yeasts; the standard Two Paddocks Estate Pinot Noir uses around half whole bunches, wild ferments, and rests in French oak before being blended from individual vineyard barrel selections. Cropping is kept tight at around five tonnes per hectare or below, and all the wines go under screwcap. Sam Neill remains personally involved as proprietor, with Jacqui Murphy running the day-to-day operation as general manager.

• BioGro New Zealand certified organic from the 2017 vintage across all four vineyards; cover crops, composted prunings, livestock grazing, no synthetic herbicides, 100% hand harvest
• Winemaker Dean Shaw on board since 1999, working from The Winemakers facility in Cromwell; vineyard manager Mike Wing since 2004, completed his 20th vintage in 2024
• Single-vineyard Proprietor's Reserves use 50-70% whole-cluster fermentation; flagship Two Paddocks Estate uses around half whole bunches; all wines fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged in French oak
• Cropping capped around 5 tonnes per hectare; all wines sealed under screwcap; Sam Neill remains hands-on proprietor with general manager Jacqui Murphy

The Two Paddocks portfolio is structured as three Pinot Noir tiers plus a small parallel range of estate whites and a Rosé. The entry-level Picnic Pinot Noir is a multi-vineyard organic Central Otago blend designed for early drinking, with red-cherry fruit, peppery spice, and a soft accessible finish; the same Picnic label produces a Riesling first made in 2009 and intermittently a Pinot Noir Rosé. The flagship Two Paddocks Estate Pinot Noir is a barrel selection drawn from all four vineyards, blended each year to express the cross-valley Two Paddocks character: thoughtful, savoury, schist-driven, and built around perfume rather than power. The Proprietor's Reserves sit at the top of the range, tiny-volume single-vineyard releases made only when a site delivers a distinctive expression in a given year. The First Paddock Proprietor's Reserve is the Gibbston voice (perfumed, herbal, taut), The Last Chance is the Earnscleugh Alexandra Basin voice (structured, wild-herb-edged, southerly), and The Fusilier is the Bannockburn voice (riper, denser, more textural). In outstanding seasons, Dean Shaw also draws a top-tier multi-vineyard barrel selection called The Major General, named after Sam's great-grandfather Brigadier General Charles Triscott, combining fruit from all three valleys (the inaugural release was 19% Alexandra, 39% Gibbston, 42% Bannockburn). The Two Paddocks Riesling is a single-block organic dry style from a half-hectare of clone 110 at Red Bank, whole-bunch pressed and wild-fermented in stainless steel.

• Picnic tier: multi-vineyard Picnic Pinot Noir (entry-level Central Otago organic blend); Picnic Riesling (introduced 2009); intermittent Picnic-style Pinot Noir Rosé
• Two Paddocks Estate Pinot Noir: flagship four-vineyard barrel selection; approximately half whole-bunch, wild ferment, French oak; savoury, schist-driven house style
• Proprietor's Reserve single-vineyard Pinot Noirs: The First Paddock (Gibbston, perfumed and herbal), The Last Chance (Alexandra Basin, structured and wild-edged), The Fusilier (Bannockburn, riper and denser); 50-70% whole-cluster ferment
• The Major General: ultra-rare cross-valley Proprietor's Reserve top selection made only in exceptional vintages, named for Sam's great-grandfather Brigadier General Charles Triscott; Two Paddocks Riesling is a single-block dry organic wine from clone 110 at Red Bank

Within two decades of the first release, Two Paddocks moved from celebrity wine project to serious Central Otago benchmark. Wine Spectator scored the 2015 Fusilier Bannockburn 95 points and the 2016 Proprietor's Reserve The First Paddock 95 points, with reviewer MaryAnn Worobiec praising the First Paddock for white-pepper, toasted cumin, dried lavender, and white-truffle aromatics. The 2014 Fusilier was named in Decanter's top 50 Most Exciting Wines of the World list for 2016, an unusual recognition for a New World estate of this size. James Suckling has scored Two Paddocks wines as high as 97 points. Beyond the scores, the estate's standing in Central Otago rests on three things that have come together rarely in the New World: a hands-on proprietor with the resources and curiosity to invest patiently over thirty years, an unusually unified team that has now been in place for two decades, and the only multi-valley estate footprint in the region. The First Paddock in Gibbston was put up for sale in late 2021 as part of what Sam Neill described as rationalising toward the Alexandra and Bannockburn core, but the property remains in the working lineup and continues to produce wine.

• Wine Spectator 95 points: The Fusilier Bannockburn 2015 and Proprietor's Reserve The First Paddock 2016; James Suckling scores up to 97 points
• Decanter top 50 Most Exciting Wines of the World 2016: The Fusilier 2014; widely regarded as a New Zealand Pinot Noir benchmark beyond the celebrity-founder profile
• Three-decade hands-on proprietorship by Sam Neill plus a tenured team (Dean Shaw since 1999, Mike Wing since 2004) is unusual stability for a New World estate of this size
• Singular position as the only Central Otago producer with estate vineyards in Gibbston, the Alexandra Basin, and Bannockburn (Cromwell Basin); First Paddock listed for sale late 2021 but still part of the producing estate