VINEYARDS
The fruit comes from the clay rich hillside Raupo Creek vineyard, which has a gentle north-west facing aspect settled in the centre of the Omaka Valley. Each vine is thinned to carry one bunch per shoot.
VINTAGE
2012 was a cool year. However, it started in ordinary fashion with a fine spring and even flowering and fruit-set. There was some rain at Christmas, though not enough to cause trouble, but temperatures never really lifted and the sun rarely showed her face. Consequently, the ripening was slow and harvest late with low yields.
VINTAGE INFORMATION
100% Pinot Noir, 13.5% Alcohol, <1 g/l RS, 5.3 g/L acidity
VINIFICATION
Fruit was hand-sorted, destemmed and cooled. After pre-fermentation steeping, the juice was warmed and fermented with wild yeast, and the caps hand-plunged daily during fermentation. The wine was left on skins for 2 weeks of post-ferment maceration, then drained, lightly pressed and transferred to French oak barriques, of which 26% were new. The wine went through natural malolactic fermentation during 15 months maturation, before it was bottled unfiltered and unfined.
TASTING NOTES
The nose exhibits notes of ripe dark berry fruit, alongside hints of savoury forest floor, rosemary and leather. The palate is concentrated, with deep
earth, spice and hedgerow fruit characters, framed by fine, well-integrated tannins and a persistent, fresh finish.