The Soloist takes centre stage bathed in a very becoming hue of pink and always sees the world through rosé-tinted glasses. She’s destined to be in the spotlight and surrounded by adoring fans.
2018 Vintage
“This vibrant, dry Rosé has complex aromas of watermelon, cranberry, rose petal and anise delivering a palate of fresh ripe summer fruits with a pure elegant finish.” Olly Masters (Winemaker)
Vintage Notes
The 2018 vintage was one of the hottest on record with some extraordinary weather patterns resulting in a very compressed season. Early in the season, there were searing temperatures for days on end along with record low rainfall. The winds finally came later in the season and then heavy rains hit in early to mid-February. The challenges of the season were in trying to manage 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 and an overall crop level that was lower than normal due to lower average bunch weights and smaller berries. This has resulted in very good fruit concentration and very expressive wines. Our Growing Degree Days (GDDs) were 1356 and fruit for this wine was hand-picked at a yield of 2.0-7.1 tonnes per hectare.
Food Match
This style of Rosé is an ideal aperitif wine but also works well with antipasto, salads, light pasta dishes as well as raw or lightly cooked seafood. It matches a range of white meats and is the perfect partner for summer parties and BBQs.
Details
| Region | Central Otago, New Zealand | Vineyard | Estate-grown, single vineyard |
| Sub-region | Bendigo – Single Vineyard | Variety/ Clones | 114 (33%), 4 (32%) 6 (25%) 5 (10%) |
| Planting | 2005/07, Altitude: 210 – 245m | Harvested | 11 & 12 March 2018 |
| Harvest Analysis | Brix: 22.4 / pH: 3.33 / TA: 6.5 g/l | Bottled | 7 August 2018 (Stelvin closure) |
| Wine Analysis | Alc:13.5% / pH: 3.43 / TA: 5.8 g/l | Cellaring | 1-3+ years |
| Residual Sugar | 3.5 g/l | Style | Dry |
Winemaking
The whole bunch Pinot Noir fruit was all destemmed and crushed into picking bins for soaking to extract colour and flavour from the skins. The juice was left in contact with the skins for one day, which was less than previous vintages as we were aiming to avoid excess colour and tannin from a hot season. The fruit was then pressed and the juice cold-settled to clarify. The subsequent juice has the vibrant colour from the Pinot Noir skins, but not the tannins that would be extracted if the ferment was carried out on the skins like a red wine. The clear juice is all fermented in stainless steel, at low temperatures (15°C), to retain aromatics and provide a freshness to the wine. The resulting Rosé is a dry-style with plenty of varietal character and fruit purity.
