Bell Hill Pinot Noir, North Canterbury

Marcel Giesen and Sherwyn Veldhuizen's limestone-rich Bell Hill estate in the Waikari Valley is New Zealand's most singular wine project. Planted on the country's only significant limestone outcrop — analogous, in geological terms, to Burgundy's Côte d'Or — it produces a pinot noir of extraordinary precision and terroir specificity. Production is tiny; the wine is almost impossible to acquire. Among New Zealand's contributions to world fine wine, Bell Hill is the most intellectually compelling argument of all.