Marathon Downs is a high-country vineyard in Central Otago’s Alexandra Basin, where altitude, schist, and clarity define the wines. Located on a working sheep station in one of New Zealand’s most remote and dramatic wine regions, the vineyard sits at the intersection of raw landscape and careful cultivation — producing Pinot Noir of purity, tension, and natural restraint. It’s a place where viticulture is shaped not just by soil, but by wind, stillness, and the long arc of seasons.

The vineyard is planted on ancient glacial soils — free-draining schist and sandy loams, threaded with quartz — and sits at high elevation, creating long ripening windows and fine-grained natural acidity. The site is farmed with minimal intervention and deep respect for the land’s pastoral heritage. Everything is hand-tended, with low yields and an emphasis on vine balance, allowing the fruit to express its place with quiet strength.

In the winery, the winemaking is refined and restrained. Pinot Noir is fermented with indigenous yeasts, partial whole bunch, and gentle extraction, then aged in French oak — mostly seasoned — to support rather than shape the wine. The philosophy is to reflect site and season with as little interference as possible, capturing the vineyard’s clarity and internal structure without noise.

The wine is taut, aromatic, and mineral. Pinot Noir leads with wild red berry, dried thyme, and stony, herbal lift — fine tannins and saline length give it a calm persistence. The expression is elegant but elemental, more about line than volume. There is a sense of solitude in the wine — not in absence, but in focus.

What defines Marathon Downs is its grounding in place — a vineyard carved from the high country, where the wines are shaped by landscape, not narrative.

These are wines that carry silence in their bones — composed, enduring, and guided by the still intensity of Central Otago’s far reaches.