Winemaking

Once at the winery small handpicked batches of grapes were lightly crushed and destemmed into open-top fermenters. The juice was then chilled and underwent a cold soak of around 6 days before being slowly warmed and inoculated, with the fermentation carried out at relatively warm temperatures of up to 35°C. This combined with regular cap plunging allowed for the gentle extraction of colour and tannin from the berries. At the end of fermentation the wine was pressed without settling directly to barrel – with a combination of both new and old French barriques used. Left to mature over the cool winter months, the wine then underwent natural secondary malo-lactic fermentation once the weather warmed in spring. Once this was completed each batch was rigorously tasted and graded - with only the best barrels making it to the final blend. The resulting wine was given a light fining with free range egg whites to soften and stabilise tannins, before being cross-flow filtered and bottled in mid-March.

Viticulture

The grapes for this wine are grown on our spectacular Whenua Matua vineyard located in the Upper Moutere sub-region of Nelson. While the gentle north facing slopes and heavy clay soils of this site make it the perfect spot for growing Pinot Noir, less than ideal summer conditions made for a challenging growing season. With higher than normal rainfall and cooler temperatures, meticulous canopy management techniques - including leaf plucking, shoot thinning and crop thinning - were carried out to expose the bunches and assist with even ripening. The hard work and dedication from the vineyard team paid off, with clean and concentrated fruit being harvested in small parcels from the 3rd to the 19th of April, with the brix ranging from 22.4 to 23.8.

Analysis

Vintage:2012

Alcohol: 13.5%

pH: 3.62

T/A: 6.6 g/L

R.S: Nil