TASTING NOTE

A virtual fruit compote loaded with juicy strawberries, blackberries and blackcurrants – gently poached and lightly infused with cloves, Chinese five-spice and stem ginger. An intensely perfumed Marlborough pinot with fruit sweetness, floral highlights and a distinct smoky fragrance. The full-flavoured palate is chock-full of red and black fruit and has great length, firm but delicate tannins and a delicious spicy finish.

VITICULTURE

All fruit was grown in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys and principally sourced from the Yarrum Vineyard, situated on the Brancott/Ben Morven ridge. Typical of this subregion, the wind-blown loess soils are comprised of clay-loams with differing degrees of gravel content. The various source blocks are cultivated to a mixture of pinot noir clones, predominantly the Dijon clones 115, 777 and 667, with smaller parcels of UCD5 and AM 10/5. The vineyards are primarily hillside plantings trained to two-cane VSP (vertical shoot positioning) with a high vine density of 3800 plants per hectare.

WINEMAKING

The grapes were hand-harvested and chilled overnight prior to hand-sorting. Most of the fruit was then destemmed into open-top fermenters, the majority of which also had a percentage of whole-bunch inclusion. The fruit was left to soak on skins prior to the onset of indigenous yeast fermentation, then plunged daily. After fermentation, the wine was pressed, racked and filled into French oak barriques (30% new). Individual clones were barrel aged separately for 11 months, prior to blending in late February 2021. The wine was bottled in November with alcohol 13.5%, pH 3.68 and acidity 5.4 g/l.