The Rippon vineyard site has been in the Mills family for four generations. Third generation Rolfe Mills was a submarine lieutenant in the Second World War and while on duty spent time off the Atlantic coast of Portugal, where the schist slopes of the Douro valley reminded him of home and sparked the first beginnings of an idea.
In 1975, Rolfe and his wife Lois began planting experimental vines on their family farmland and in 1982 began the commercial planting of the 15ha (approximately 37 acres) that today comprise Rippon. Biodynamic farming, wild ferments, no irrigation and some of Central Otago’s oldest vines on their own roots all help to produce fruit and wines which are true to their place. Fourth generation Nick Mills, winemaker since 2003, carries on his parents’ legacy as pioneers of the Central Otago wine industry.
Meet your instructor
Taste wine with us
Spectacular South African Pinot Noir is a Family Affair at Crystallum
Who's Peter Max? And why is his name on a South African Pinot Noir that enthralls anyone who tastes it?
It's actually two guys: Peter and Max are the names of the growers whose fruit went into the first vintage of this wine, a multi-vineyard blend that's meant to encapsulate everything good about South Africa's misty, cold Walker Bay region and its coastal neighbors. There's also Peter as in winemaker Peter-Allen Finlayson, who founded Crystallum in partnership with his brother Andrew.
Good Things Take Time: Drink Joguet's Back-Vintage Chinon Now!
When Rebecca Gibb, MW, tasted Joguet’s single vineyard 2019 Chinons she couldn’t help but wax poetic. They’re the kind of wines that do that to even the most technically adept tasters. They’re also wines that get high points and that can age for decades.
And yet, Chinon (generally) and Joguet (specifically) remain a bit of an insider’s wine. Charles Joguet may be one of the appellation’s benchmark producers, and an early proponent of both single vineyard Chinon as well as organic farming.