2019 Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2019
Variety: Pinot Noir
Region: Lenswood, Adelaide Hills
Pinot Style; a personal view;
A fragrant, complex yet subtle Pinot aroma is vital. The palate must be supple and generous but not big or heavy. And there must be savoury tannins and acid to balance the sweet fruit. It should be feminine and gentle, not overt and overbearing.
$50.00
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:
3.44
TA (g/L):
6.4 g/L
Closure:
Screwcap.
Serving suggestion:
Best between 14 and 18°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 ageing any wine and are features this wine. Best drinking 2021 to 2030.
Winemaking:
Gently crushed into half tonne fermenter tubs, with 25% of whole bunches, seeded with a low level of yeast culture and allowed to ferment. Ripe stalks were ideal to add to the tannin structure in the wine. Plunging four times daily. No chilling. Ferment up to 30 deg 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 and few extremes of heat. 1250 Heat degree days in total and low rainfall with just 175 mm of rain from October to end February. An average season has 1270 Heat degree days and 196mm rain Oct to end February. Harvest on 12th March was close to our average pick date of 18th March. Crop levels at less than 1 kg per vine were also lower than average.
Early ripening, flavour concentration and generally good acid levels are enhanced by low crops because ripening is relatively quick. If ripening is prolonged it leaves time for the natural acids to metabolise and be lost. Natural acids are generally tight and harmonious and accompany a naturally low pH which I believe is fundamental to fine winemaking.