Pinot Noir Marlborough 2009

New Zealand is now acknowledged as one of the few countries to have successfully come to grips with this fickle, but supremely aristocratic grape variety. A combination of dry and moderate climates gives near perfect cool climate growing conditions and assists with the intense varietal characters in Marlborough grapes.

This wine puts the NOIR into Pinot; a fine combination of dark cherries and red fruit abound. This is a fruit focused and velvety wine with rich flavours and soft tannins. Lean meats such as veal, venison or turkey, are a great match.

WINEMAKING NOTES:

With this variety, a balance between exposure and shading is the key to get a balance between aromatics and weight. Continually assessing and tweaking exposure ratios is ongoing as the vineyards mature to ensure optimal quality.

Harvest is on flavour where we are looking at ripe dark cherry/raspberry flavours. The tanks are hand plunged to break cap up, and to extract colour and flavour out of skins.

A small portion of the wine goes through malolactic fermentation for mouth feel, the balance is matured on oak for five to seven months before blending. In this wine from Marlborough, we look for ripe, bright, juicy black cherry, backed by the slightest touch of smoky flavours.