2009 Pinot Noir
2009 was a freakish year for Pinot Noir. In the midst of a generally cool season we were hit by some extremely hot weather in the last three days of January which literally fried any exposed grapes, particularly on the Western side of the canopy. In a couple of days we lost half our already small crop and veraison, half done by this stage, was stopped dead in its tracks. Over the next couple of weeks we wondered whether it would start again but by the end of February the few grapes remaining were fully veraised. Harvest was later this year than in previous vintages, being in the second week of March, and for Pinot Noir was characterised by multiple sorting operations in the vineyard and winery to discard any sunburnt fruit. In the fermenter it was immediately apparent that the wines would have more colour and concentration than we normally see. The juice was very dark and bursting with cranberry and raspberry flavours. The fermentation regime was similar to previous years with the exception that we barely touched the wine. We knew we had concentration so, to preserve balance, a few pump overs at the start and a light pigeage each morning were all they got. The resulting wine is quite like the juice, dark with intense fragrance of cranberry, plum and raspberry complimented by some oak derived spice. The palate is powerful and long with refreshing acidity and lots of fine tannin.
290 cases produced