Pinot Noir on Clay Soil

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Bunches were de-stemmed with some crushing and berries were hand sorted at the crusher. The whole berry fraction was about 50% and cold soaked for two days in 500kg batches before yeast activity began. Fermentation was in open top vats where spontaneous fermentation and some inoculated commercial Pinot yeast culture was induced. Juice and skins were punched down (pigeage) and turned daily to control even heat distribution between the skin cap on top and must juice below. Tannin and flavour extractions from the skins were carefully monitored at that stage. Once fermentation was completed, the bins were tasted and selected on tannin and flavour attributes and manually pressed in an 800kg capacity stainless steel basket press. The bin combinations selected were kept as separate fractions to create as many blending profiles as possible for the final assemblage. The secondary malo-lactic fermentation was completed in 225 Litre oak casks where, once all the malic acid has converted to lactic acid, was racked off the solid lees (dead yeast cells and solids)

Grapes were selected from two cool sites in the Elgin Valley grown mostly in Clay soils with a high iron, ferrous content that contributes to blocky, textured tannin structure and earthy, savoury top notes. French Dijon clones 777 and 115 were planted in 2001 and 2005. Vines are vertically shoot positioned on a 5-wire fence system planted 2.2m x 1.2m apart on south and south-east facing slopes to enhance more even budburst and ripening. Production at harvest averaged 4-6 tons per hectare which was handpicked and sorted in the vineyards during mid to end February in small 17kg batches.

further matured for 11 months in a combination of new, second, third and fourth filled Burgundy coopered casks. Once maturation was completed, each barrel was assessed for premium status and the resultant blend of the chosen barrels were assembled and lightly filtered to bottle.