Our Pinot Noir is the jewel in the crown – the focal point in our repertoire of wines ‘The High Note’ was inspired by Misha’s opera-singing mother and her early life spent in the theatre.
2018 Vintage
“A ruby-red Pinot Noir with classic varietal aromatics of violets, plum and cherry with hints of dark chocolate and spice, lead to a palate of ripe plums balanced with fine tannins giving great depth and length.” Olly Masters (Winemaker)
Vintage Notes
The 2018 vintage was one of the hottest on record with extraordinary weather patterns resulting in a very compressed season. There were searing temperatures for days on end
early in the season, along with record low rainfall. The winds came later and then heavy rains hit in early to mid-February. It was challenging to manage the rapid canopy growth and keep on top of the constant threat of mildew and botrytis. In spite of the issues, we ended up with a very healthy vineyard with a smaller than usual crop due to lower average bunch weights and smaller berries. This resulted in very good fruit concentration and expressive wines. Our Growing Degree Days were 1356 and fruit for this wine was hand-picked at a yield of 3.0-6.6 tonnes per hectare.
Food Match
This Pinot Noir is very versatile and great with lamb, venison and veal, and a large range of vegetable dishes especially mushrooms. It is also the perfect accompaniment to game birds such as quail, pheasant, turkey and duck.
Details
| Region | Central Otago, New Zealand | Vineyard | Estate-grown, single vineyard |
| Sub-region | Bendigo | Variety/ Clones | UCD5 (32%), 777 (24%), 667 (20%), 4 (5%), 115 (15%) Abel (3%) |
| Planting | 2004/05/07, Altitude: 210 – 350m | Harvested | 20 March to 4 april 2018 |
| Harvest Analysis | Brix: 23.4-26.5 / pH: 3.32-3.46 / TA: 6.8-10.8 g/l | Bottled | 3 April 2019 (Stelvin closure) |
| Wine Analysis | Alc: 14.0% / pH: 3.71 / TA: 5.9 g/l | Cellaring | 2 – 8+ yrs |
Winemaking
The fruit was chilled overnight before crushing the next day typically as 2 and 4 tonne lots. The crushed fruit was then cold soaked for 5-7 days then allowed to warm as the natural yeast ferment took place. A whole bunch component was included (6%). Cooling was used to ensure the ferments peaked below 32°C. The wine was then held warm (15-20°C) post ferment to allow ongoing tannin integration. After an average of 24 days on skins the wines were then pressed to tank where they were settled for 1–2 days before being racked into French oak hogsheads (37% new 300 litre barrels). The wine was inoculated for malolactic fermentation which took place in the following spring, then racked out of barrels prior to the 2019 vintage. It was filtered prior to bottling in April 2019.
