Winemaker: Steve Davies

Vineyard Manager: Pip Feyen

Vineyard notes:

The grapes for this wine came from both our vineyard sites; one located at the very end of Felton Road in Bannockburn and the other in north Lowburn. The cooler spring and early summer led to a slow start to the growing season, with unsettled weather in December affected flowering and fruit-set. Small clusters and berries were typical throughout the region, resulting in lower than expected yields. However, a warm and dry February and March promoted good ripening and clean, high quality fruit.  The juice extraction rate was low, reflecting the smaller berry size/bunch weights.

Winemaking considerations:

Ripe, clean fruit was hand-harvested from in late March and April. Seven different fermentations were undertaken for this blend from a range of different clones. The fruit was de-stemmed, pressed, settled and fermented slowly in open top stainless steel tanks. The must was left for 3-4 days on cold soak and pumped over once a day during this time. The fermenters  were  warmed  and  innoculated  with  yeast  to  ferment  the  wines  to  dryness. Around 30% of the ferments were innoculated by wild yeast. The wines were then plunged three times a day for the first third of the ferment and then increased to four plunges per day at ferment  peak. The  ferments  peaked  at 32°  Celsius,  and  plunging  continued  until the ferments were dry.

Limited post maceration  took place for up to 3-4 days post ferment, with the ferments

tasted daily once dry until the tannins were integrated. The wines spent an average of 2-3 weeks on skins to extract tannin, colour and aromatics. The wines were then gently drained and pressed, prior to tank settling for 2-3 days, before racking to French oak barriques of which 30% were new oak. The wines were kept cool and humid in the barrel hall until spring, topped frequently, with lees stirring taking place during elevage. The room was then warmed and the barrels underwent malo-lactic fermentation. The wines were racked out of barrel and blended in tank in February, before undergoing egg-white fining and cross-flow filtration; then bottled in early April.

Alcohol: 14.2%

Residual Sugar: <1g/L

Aromatic and Palate Comments:

A youthful Pinot showing immense drinkability, displaying  red/black  cherry,  plum  and  a  touch  of  nutty characters on the nose. Ripe and succulent on the palate with silky texture and fine tannins, it's a beautifully drinking Pinot showing classic Central Otago fruit intensity. At its best: now to 2013-15