A succulent and complex Pinot Noir showing smouldering savoury
and gamey character. Layers of rich dark plum and cherry, heady
spice and perfumed f loral notes abound. The finely concentrated
palate shows suppleness and complexity followed with a lengthy
smooth finish, traditional of Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir.
This is a classic wine that shows the elegance, harmony and sophistication
required for longevity. Enjoy 2008 through to 2025.
Vineyard
Our Pinot Noir blocks are hand harvested from vines ageing up to
25 years – some of New Zealand’s oldest Pinot Noir vines.
A range of 10 clones including Abel, 10/5 and some of the new Dijon
clones are planted and give complexity to the final blend.
The vineyards are situated on the Martinbrough Terrace which is
famed for its deep, free draining, ancient river bed soils which
are ideal for making ultra premium Pinot Noir wines.
The region has a cool, maritime climate along with other beneficial
climatic drivers including a rain shadow, one of the country’s
largest diurnal temperature differentials, windy springs and a long
warm period through autumn. All of this results in a natural low-vigour
site regulating crops and enabling high quality, consistent, ripe
fruit.
Winemaking
All fruit is carefully sorted in the vineyard at harvest and again
in the winery before being processed. About 10% of the grapes are
whole bunch fermented and the rest fully destemmed.
The wine underwent a cool pre-ferment maceration for 5-8 days and
spent an average time on skins of about 20 days before all being
pressed to French oak barrels. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation
in barrel and remained on its lees for 10 months before racking,
blending and bottling on site.
Indigenous yeasts are used which add to the wine’s complexity
in addition to traditional methods of punching down the ferments
by hand. Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir is held back for 12 months
after bottling to allow further integration.
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