Tasting Notes

Bright mid-ruby in colour, revealing aromas of raspberries, cherries and hints of earth and dried herbs.  An aromatic, slightly feral, dimension is contributed by spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeast.  The wine displays positive richness and substance on the palate, along with alcohol warmth, finely-structured tannins and cleansing acidity.

Production Notes

Four weeks, 30^th March to 27^th April, separated the first and last picking of our Pinot Noir grapes at Leongatha.   Consequently, a range of flavour characteristics has contributed great complexity to the resulting wines from the 2000 vintage.

Ripe grapes were hand harvested in good condition from three vineyard sites.  The grapes were fully destemmed and partially crushed to small open fermentors, where they underwent 2-4 days’ cold maceration before being warmed for the commencement of fermentation.  Around half of the batches were allowed to start fermentation spontaneously, whilst the others were inoculated with a favoured Burgundy yeast strain.  Fermentation was allowed to progress at elevated temperatures, 30 - 32ºC, with cap plunging three times per day.

All batches were pressed right at the end of primary fermentation, then settled briefly before being racked to French oak barriques, of which 30% were new.  Malolactic fermentation occurred spontaneously in barrel, and the wines were left undisturbed for ten months until racking, blending, fining and bottling in March 2001.