Pinot Noir 2004

Produced by: Wild Earth Wines Ltd
Winemaker: Dean Shaw

Vineyard notes:
The grapes for this wine came from our Bannockburn Estate and Lowburn Estate Vineyard. It was the second harvest for the Bannockburn vineyard, which is composed of predominantly Dijon clone vines and the third vintage for Lowburn, which is planted mainly in clones 5 and 6.
The season started with promise and on schedule, but untimely frosts in November had the effect of dramatically reducing bunch weights and yields. The New Year bought with it a superb summer, with long, dry settled weather, allowing the reduced crop to develop and ripen to an optimum condition.

Winemaking considerations:
Prior to harvest five very distinct batches were selected in the vineyard according to their clones and managed individually as they reached physiological maturity. Picking was entirely by hand with fifty percent of the fruit from our Bannockburn Estate Vineyards (was Terraces) and Lowburn Estate Vineyard (was Crown Range) and the remainder from our Crown Range Vineyard.
Once at the winery a fifth of the total volume was whole bunch fermented with the remainder de-stemmed. The must was left for between five to eight days on cold soak at around 10° celsius with twice daily hand plunging. Indigenous yeast was used to ferment the wines to dryness over 5 - 8 days, with the wines being hand plunged up to four times a day and ferment temperature peaking at 32° Celsius.
The wines were then gently drained and pressed to 225 litre oak barriques of which just over one third were new 3 year air dried French oak. The wines rested and matured for ten months and then were blended. A rigorous assessment saw almost a quarter of the original wine downgraded, leaving a superb final blend. The wine then underwent minimal fining and a light filtration before bottling.

Aromatic and Palate Comments:
Dark blackcurrant, bramble, spice smoky plum and wild gamey aromatics, a warm rich complex mouth feel showing elegance, dark brooding flavours and a long persistent finish