2021 Pinot Noir

2021 PINOT NOIR

A cool, and rather wet season was a welcome change to drought in previous year and allowed our Pinot block to thrive, and produce some beautiful fruit.  Typical cherry and red berry nose, smooth palate with hints of charry oak and spice.  Silky tannins and good acid gives a refreshing finish.

ENJOY IT WITH             

Duck, of course, but also mushrooms, brie and camembert, soy chicken.  Good with milder Asian noodle dishes.

CELLARING                  

Excellent from 1-5 years, more if that’s your preference.  Good structure will keep it well.

Aahh, Pinot Noir.  We had to have at least a small block of this iconic variety, not commonly planted in the Murrumbateman area, to see how it would behave.  We now wish we’d planted more!  Each year the fruit seems to improve – deeper flavours and more complexity.  Lovely fresh cherry, silky tannins, a lick of charry oak and good acid makes for a very enjoyable drop.  Very small production – 2-3 barrels only.  Get it when you can!

GROWING                   

Estate grown.  Pinot Noir is famously fussy in the vineyard.  We planted our four long rows of Pinot on the very east of our property, protected from hot westerlies in the summer and making the most of cooling evening easterlies from the coast.  Rocky and sparse soils at the top of the block gives way to more generous soils in the lower half.  Clay loam over shale.  Clone MV6.  We typically drop 25-50% of the fruit midseason to intensify body and flavour/aroma.

MAKING                      

A cold soak before fermentation encourages berry enzyme reactions, increasing complexity and giving a lifted fruit character.  Open tank fermentation (usually about 10% whole bunches) with hand plunging for gentle extraction.  10-12 months elevage in our best French oak. This is the only red that uses a specific cultured yeast as we believe it improves the extraction of colour.  Being an ancient red variety it has less colour in its skins, so every effort is made to conserve it.