Pinot Noir 2007

 
Consultant to Winemaker: Michelle Richardson

Assistant Winemaker: Anna Ward

Vineyard notes:
The grapes for this wine came from our Bannockburn Estate Vineyards and our Lowburn Estate Vineyard. The Bannockburn vineyard is composed of predominantly Dijon clone vines and Lowburn is planted mainly in
clones 5 and 6. The cooler spring and early summer led to a slow start to the growing season, and 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 2007. Ten different fermentations were undertaken for this blend from different clones, with the fruit coming from both our Bannockburn and Lowburn vineyards. The fruit was de-stemmed/crushed, settled, and fermented slowly in open top stainless steel tanks. The must was left for 3-4 days on cold and pumped over once a day during this time. Around 30%
of the ferments were innoculated with 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 of 32° Celsius. The wine spent an average of 2-3 weeks on skins to extract tannin, colour and aromatics. They were then gently drained, pressed and tank settled, 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 then racked out of barrel and blended in tank in February, before undergoing egg-white fining and cross-flow filtration; then bottled in early April.

Aromatic and Palate Comments:
The wine offers generous berry and forest fruit on the nose, in a concentrated bouquet that leads you in to a richly textured palate with layers of intense, dark fruit and spices. The silky tannins complement a well structured wine with great length of flavour on the palate. Careful cellaring will see this wine develop wonderfully from rich fruit elements to more complex savoury tones.