Shop

Assessment:
–

Aroma:
Lifted primary cherry fruit with hints of earth and spice. Distinctly Pinot.
Colour:
–

Palate:
Ripe fruit, complex juicy and supple. Generously flavoured with a lingering, drying savoury tannin on the finish.

Oak maturation:
12 months in French oak barriques. All from forests in the centre of France. 50% new oak.

pH:
3.33

TA (g/L):
6.9 g/L

Closure:
Screwcap.

Serving suggestion:
Best between 14 and 20°C.

Food suggestion:
Ideal with red meats, but can be enjoyed with a wide range of foods or on its own. Being unfiltered, it is best decanted before serving.

Cellaring:
Freshness and complexity with a firm tannin foundation are fundamental prerequisites for aging any wine and are features of this wine. Best drinking from 2015 to 2025.

Winemaking:
Gently crushed into fermenter tubs, with a proportion of whole berries but no stalks, seeded with a low level of yeast culture and allowed to ferment. Plunging four times daily. No chilling. Ferment up to 30°C on skins for 15 days. Pressed to barrel with pressings included. Racked to clarify. MLF in barrel.

Vintage:
Excellent growing season with mild temperatures (1202 Heat degree days) and 236 mm of rain from October to end February. Harvest on 4th March which is early, partly due to the extremely low crop levels (0.6 kg per vine). Low crops mean flavour concentration, early ripening and generally good acid levels because ripening is relatively quick. If ripening is prolonged it leaves time for the natural acids to metabolise and be lost. We rarely need to add acid which I feel is a major advantage for our vineyard. Natural acids are tight and harmonious.