When I met up with Andrew Donaldson, owner of Central Otago producer Akitu, he had flown to London from New Zealand’s South Island to showcase the latest vintages of the winery’s A1 and A2 expressions (2024 and 2023, respectively). Both are premium single-varietal Pinot Noirs, both priced under £45, and both reflective of their capricious but special vineyard site nestled up against the Southern Alps at 380m altitude.
Because of this location, Donaldson describes A1 and A2 as ‘Alpine wines’, but he pointed out that Central Otago’s Southern Alps differ dramatically from, say, the French or Swiss Alps, as “our mountain range is a spine that separates an island, rather than a massif [large group of connected mountains].”
Rarely confused
Much like the spear of acid running through its wines – “the thing that defines great Pinot Noir is acid”, Donaldson told me conspiratorially – Akitu is a streamlined operation, producing only three wines. There is the flagship A1, a second wine, A2, and an experimental Pinot Noir Blanc, which Donaldson explained was an attempt to “show that we are racy, edgy, innovative and that we wanted to evolve.”
Does having such a tightly focused portfolio help or hinder during economically tough times?
“It helps massively in terms of focus and expectation management. We are rarely confused in what we are doing,” Donaldson said. “From a consumer perspective, it all makes perfect sense, it’s never befuddled. Three wines, three distinct purposes. I find it hard enough to select wines from different vintages, let alone the annual distinctions between this block versus that one. Why make things harder?”
He describes the 2024 vintage of A1 as being “ripe, rich and voluptuous”, adding that “you could no way describe this as ‘light’” in the way that some people tend to paint a picture of Pinots. Admittedly, he said, some wines made from the variety can be “lean like a cyclist, all bone and sinew, but you don’t really want to go to bed with them. I love the sexiness of Pinot Noir.”
Revelations
Last year’s releases represented a significant milestone for Akitu, with the 2022 vintage marking 20 years in the ground for its Pinot. Twenty years, Donaldson told the drinks business, “is just the end of adolescence for those vines. Now we find out what sort of beings these 38 500 vines actually are.”
Those revelations are already coming thick and fast, with the winery owner revealing “we should probably replant one of the six clones, our 114 has rarely performed close to its potential. Our fault, wrong place.”
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