Chardonnay gets the attention at Neudorf, but Pinot Noir takes up about 30 per cent of the vineyard, second only to Chardonnay. Tom's Block was planted in 1999 on a north-facing slope in Upper Moutere, on the same Moutere clay gravels as the rest of the estate. Five clones share the block: 777, 5, 667, 115 and Abel. The vines are organic and dry farmed.
Pinot is handled differently from the whites. The grapes are chilled and sorted, destemmed, and fermented with wild yeast in open-top vessels, with the cap hand plunged twice a day. The wine goes through malolactic fermentation in spring and spends about ten months in French oak, only a fifth of it new, before blending. It is not fined.
Neudorf's own notes describe summer berries and dark cherry, violets, a trace of peat, pink pepper and wild herbs, with a savoury edge and tannins that stay fine. The oak frames the fruit rather than leading. This is a red for slow, earthy food, so reach for wild mushrooms on toast, a mushroom and thyme tart, aged parmesan or roast quail.