2020 Pinot Noir
The revered Pinot Noir is a time capsule of place that honours the wine’s articulation not just of the artistry of the winemaking, but the environment and climate that speaks through the fruit.
This wine has a gorgeous depth of colour and flavour: plums and black cherries, a spritz of acidity, and opulent tannin. Always, elegance is characteristic of the fruit sourced solely from our site in the Coal River Valley of Tasmania’s south.
Purple red in hue. Rhubarb, bright cherry, and rosehip springing from the glass. Real palate crunch, evoking pomegranate seeds. Enduring length and linearity on the palate. Though drinking beautifully now, two years on, it has a way to go before reaching its prime.
After hand picking, each batch is hand sorted and then de-stemmed without crushing. Each clone is picked, processed, and fermented separately. It is cold soaked under inert gas coverage for 2/3 days prior to being allowed to warm up for ferment, getting a gentle hand plunging 2 to 3 times a day.
Upon reaching dryness (around 7-10 days later), it is pressed via gravity directly to oak, again each batch being kept separate. After malolactic fermentation is complete, it is sulphured and remains on lees prior to blending and bottling ten months later.
After another dry winter in Southern Tasmania, budburst commenced around the middle of September.
Relentlessly windy and cold conditions over spring and through to summer saw delayed shoot growth and a challenging flowering period.
The end result—open canopies and lower-than-average yields—allayed much of the handwork we do in the vineyard in a normal season. Every month of the growing season over 2019 and 2020 had lower-than-average temperatures, except January, which was average.
The cooler year, lower yields and open canopies delivered fruit with great intensity and driving acidity.