Central Otago in the South Island of New Zealand lies about 45 degrees south of the equator and this compares with Burgundy and Oregon that are very close to the same distance north of the equator.

In other words it is great Pinot Noir country.

In 2014 for the seventh time New Zealand Pinot Noirs were arranged in five levels similar to the great classification of Bordeaux wines in 1855.

Out of 493 producers, 122 were chosen.

Just like Bordeaux, five (originally four but Mouton Rothschild was added in 1973 for the only change ever) were chosen to be the very best and among these hallowed few was Mt Difficulty, a boutique producer with some of the oldest vineyards in the area. Mt Difficulty has been included in the top five on all seven occasions. We have just made the decision to significantly lower some of the prices of their wines based on their weakening dollar.

The 2011 Mt Difficulty Bannockburn Pinot Noir was the editor’s choice in the Wine Enthusiast magazine and he wrote “Winemaker Matt Dicey has crafted a winner, seamlessly combining aromas and flavours of toast, cherry, smoke and dried herbs into a relatively full-bodied, muscular wine.

Although firm, it is approachable now as the finish fades elegantly into dusty tannins laced with mocha and berries. Drink now — 2020”. The price has just changed from $44.45 to $34.95.

This may even be close to the first prices that we offered back in 2004 when it all started with us and the best selection of wineries from New Zealand.

Mt Difficulty makes another level of wines called Roaring Meg (a young lady of questionable repute back in the gold rush days) and we have a quite lovely 2012 Pinot Noir in this range that is perfumed with blackberry and dark cherry along with hints of spice.

Even it won Gold at the Decanter magazine awards in London. It did sell for $27.60 but now you can try it for $21.55.

The Mt Difficulty 2013 Pinot Gris that we are just running out of won Gold at the UK Sommelier awards and also at the 2014 San Francisco International Wine Competition. The 2014 arrived this week and this cool vintage has resulted in aromas of white peach and pear blossom mingled with underlying crisp red apple notes.

It is creamy and well-textured and much of this has to do with the fact that the fermented juice was left on its lees for five months and stirred weekly to enhance complexity and textural aspects. For those of you unfamiliar with lees, they are the dead yeast cells, grape seeds, stems and pulp. For those of you unfamiliar with Pinot Gris, it is thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir. Again, happily the Mt Difficulty Bannockburn Pinot Gris has dropped from $25.60 to $21.75.

Where would we be without New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc?

Virtually all of it comes from the Marlborough Region, but of course ours from the mountain folks originates further south in Central Otago. Our Roaring Meg 2013 Sauvignon Blanc displays the dried hay that one always expects from this grape, but also capsicum and passion-fruit with a vibrant wet stone note. The finish is clean and citrus focused. We have the same story here as it was $24.40 and now $19.50 will buy you a bottle.

The Euro is up 4 ½% in a week, but the New Zealand and Australian dollars staying low and the Argentine and Chilean Peso are all over the place.

Quite a mine field, but where we can take advantage of it for your benefit we will.

•This column is a paid-for advertorial for Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. Michael Robinson is Director of Wine at Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. He can be contacted at mrobinson@bll.bm or 295-0176. Burrows Lightbourn has stores in Hamilton (Front Street East. 295-1554), Paget (Harbour Road, 236-0355) and St George’s (York Street, 297-0409). A selection of their wines, beers and spirits is available online at www.wineonline.bm.