Valli is the creation of New Zealand winemaker Grant Taylor, who founded the brand in 1998 in the Central Otago region with the ambition of crafting terroir-driven wines that express the individual sub-regions of the South Island. Taylor had previously worked in Napa and Oregon, but on a visit back home in the early 1990s realized the potential of Central Otago, the most southerly winegrowing region in New Zealand. At the time, vineyards were just being established, but no one was exploring the individual sub-regions and bottling them separately, in a Burgundy-like model. Focusing primarily on Pinot Noir, today Valli sources fruit from its own vineyards in Gibbston, Bannockburn and Bendigo in Central Otago (Central Otago) as well as the emerging Waitaki Valley region in North Otago. What sets Valli apart is its commitment to showcasing the specific terroir of each site: rows are planted densely, yields are kept low and winemaking is gentle, almost hands-off, allowing each wine to reflect the vineyard and vintage. Valli does not make an “entry level” wine, nor do they make any sort of reserve bottling, instead staying true to their original mission of showcasing site above all else. Each wine in their lineup is remarkably different: Waitaki is the most marginal site, with a different climate than the previous three (maritime versus continental), leading to very fine-boned, almost ethereal styles of Pinot Noir, more reminiscent of Burgundy but with a high degree of fruit purity