pinot noir 2008
A warm year has produced a rich, concentrated and elegant Pinot Noir with supple savoury tannins. In its youth the nose shows black cherry, dark chocolate and Asian spice notes that will typically change to savoury, earthy characters as the wine ages. On the palate the layers of dark fruits are beautifully entwined with soft, velvet tannins and a seamless texture. This wine exhibits power and poise and will age gracefully for 10+ years. |
VINEYARD
Our Pinot Noir blocks are harvested by hand from vines ageing up to 28 years old, some of New Zealand’s oldest Pinot Noir vines. A range of ten clones including Abel, 10/5 and a variety of the new Dijon clones are planted giving us complexity and a range of blending options.
All the vineyards are situated on the Martinborough Terrace which is famed for its deep, free-draining, alluvial soils which are ideal for making ultra premium Pinot Noir.
The region has a cool, maritime climate along with other beneficial climatic drivers including a rain shadow, one of the country’s largest diurnal temperature differentials, windy springs and a long warm ripening period through autumn. All this results in a natural low-vigour site regulating crops and enabling high quality, consistent, ripe fruit.
VINIFICATION
The fruit is carefully sorted in the vineyard at harvest and again in the winery before being transferred to small open top fermenting vats. The wine undergoes a cool pre-ferment maceration for 4- 7 days at 15°C before fermentation using indigenous yeasts begins. The wine is carefully hand plunged up to three times a day and spends an average of 20 days on skins before being pressed. The wine is then aged for 12 months in French oak barriques before racking. We use traditional techniques to gently bring out the maximum potential of the grapes and impart complexity and finesse on the finished wine. Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir is neither fined nor filtered and is aged in bottle for a further twelve months to aid integration and complexity.
THE SEASON
The famed Martinborough climate of long dry, warm summers is perfect for grape growing and 2008 was no exception. Excellent winter soil moisture levels combined with a very settled spring gave us some of the best flowering conditions we have ever seen. This resulted in an even fruit set and average crop yields across all varieties. Glorious summer weather followed on into the New Year with temperatures in the early thirties and minimal rainfall. This dream season meant all our vineyards were again in great condition allowing us to pick at optimum ripeness.
If only Mother Nature was this kind all the time.
Appellation |
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Martinborough Terrace |
Oak Maturation |
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33% New Oak, 20% 1 year Oak, 47% 2 year+ Oak |
Vineyard Blocks |
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Wharekauhau, MV Home Block , Duncan’s Paddock and Moy Hall |
Clones |
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Abel, 114, 667, 115, 10/5, and Clone 5 |
Harvest Dates |
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25th March through to 5th April 2008 |
Harvest Analysis |
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22.9 – 25.2 Brix 3.25– 3.61pH 6.60 – 7.80g/L TA |
Bottling Date |
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29th October 2009 |
Wine Analysis |
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3.62 pH 5.85 g/L TA 13.8 % alc |
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