Tempo (Italian for “time”) is a musical term that indicates the speed at which a piece of music or a song should be played. It’s determined by how fast or slow the beats are – it’s like the pulse of the music.
2022 Vintage
“An enticing nose of red fruits and blueberries, the raspberry and sweet spice notes linger on the palate with a typical Bendigo liquorice richness and gentle, fine tannins.” Olly Masters (Winemaker)
Vintage Notes
Warm temperatures at the start of the season, without the usual buffeting spring winds, resulted in rapid growth, aided by the moist ground from a wet winter. The warmth continued to flowering at the end of November before a cool front slowed growth but it was a good fruit set. January was hot and dry with a few consecutive days over 30°C+. Conditions stayed warm for the rest of the season. Harvest started at the end of March and continued over
the next month. This was a dream season in terms of fruit quality and vine health with yields also above the long-term average. Berry size was even aiding flavour consistency and varietal expression, with good colour development and tannin ripeness in the Pinot Noir. This season will be remembered as one of the best. The Pinot Noir for this blend was hand-picked at between 4.4-7.3 tonnes per hectare and Growing Degree Days (GDDs) were 1152
Food Match
Pinot Noir is an extremely versatile food wine as it can pair well with either white or red meats, creamy sauces, and spicy seasonings. It’s also a wonderful match with sword fish or roast salmon. The classic Pinot Noir matches are with game birds, roasted red meats, mushrooms as well as mild and creamy cheese.
| Region | Central Otago, New Zealand | Vineyard | Estate-grown, single vineyard |
| Sub-region | Bendigo | Variety/ Clones | UCD5 (26%), 4 (25%), Abel (18%), 667 (12%), 777 (19%) |
| Planting | 2004/05/07, Altitude: 210 – 350m | Harvested | 28th March to 26th April 2022 |
| Harvest Analysis | Brix: 24.6-25.4 / pH: 3.39-3.52 / TA: 5.9-7.3 g/l | Bottled | 9th February 2023 (Stelvin closure) |
| Wine Analysis | Alc: 14% / pH: 3.71 / TA: 5.7 g/l | Cellaring | 2 – 5+ yrs |
Winemaking
The fruit was chilled overnight before destemming the next day, typically as 4 tonne lots in open top fermenters with a proportion of whole bunches (an average of 11%) retained. For this wine a higher level of whole bunch and pump over was used to enhance fruit expression. The crushed fruit was allowed to warm slowly for 5-7 days as the natural yeast ferment began to take place. Ferments were hand plunged 1-2 times per day. Cooling was used
to ensure the ferments peaked below 32°C. The wine was then held warm (>20°C) post ferment to allow ongoing tannin integration. After an average of 25 days on skins the wines were then pressed to tank where they were settled for 1–2 days before being racked into 300 litre French oak barrels. The wine was inoculated for malolactic fermentation in spring and the final wine selection made by identifying ferments and barrels from all the wines post malolactic fermentation. Aiming to produce an earlier maturing style, the final selection received 7% new oak. The wine was racked, filtered and bottled in February 2023
