Three hundred tonnes of fruit has been harvested this season, which winemaker Christopher Keys predicts will give "great drinking for years".
"In Central Otago we enjoyed a long, warm summer, which makes such a difference to the quality of the pinot noir.
"Although in February and early March there were cool patches, the long dry autumn and great weather through March and April meant we picked really lovely fruit, with really balanced sugar levels, great flavour and good acid levels.
"We're very happy with 2012's quality. Smaller bunches have given welcome intensity, and flavours are excellent."
Mr Keys described this year's pinot noir as having "sweet fruit, excellent balance and ripeness", while the pinot gris, chardonnay and riesling were as good as he had seen.
"What is setting them apart is their amazing clarity and fresh intensity."
Mr Keys said Gibbston Valley Winery was blessed to have had such a lovely harvest, when conditions had not been so easy around the rest of the country.
The strength of Gibbston Valley Winery was in the quality of its eight distinct vineyard sites - bringing together grapes from the pioneer Home Block vineyard in Gibbston with those from the heights of School House in Bendigo gave different Central Otago characteristics to the wine, he said.
"We're committed to crafting wines that reflect who we are, the proud owners of some of the oldest vineyards in the region.
"Each and every glass of a Gibbston Valley Winery pinot noir from the single-vineyard range tells a story of where this vineyard is; how high it is; what its soils are like; what the climate is like; and when it ripens.
"Add to that the story of the land, who planted it and what they were dreaming - as with Alan Brady's Le Maitre pinot noir - and you have something very uniquely different."
Founder Alan Brady, the first to plant and commercially produce wines in the Gibbston valley, harvesting pinot noir, pinot gris and a "dry white" blend in 1987, defied critics who described the land as "too cold and too far south" for winemaking.
This year, he returned to the winery - which has won 300 national and international awards over the years - to help harvest grapes in the original block he planted.
"In those early days we experimented by planting everything under the sun, and pinot noir chose us, we didn't choose it.
"It ripened more consistently than any other variety, and from that moment on we were in on the ground floor of what became the pinot noir phenomenon, what's now the second-largest variety in New Zealand to sauvignon blanc.
"Over the years, we attracted some of the best winemakers in New Zealand to come and work with pinot noir, known as the 'heartbreak grape' because it's difficult to do and winemakers love the challenge.
"Twenty-five years later, I'm still looking ahead because we're producing wines of such outstanding quality that fully reflect the uniqueness of Central Otago, its climate and soils," Mr Brady said.
The Central Otago region now has about 2000ha of vines and more than 100 producers. This year's total harvest is expected to be about 7000 tonnes.
