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.
2024 Vintage
“This refreshing off-dry Rosé flaunts vibrant raspberry aromas adding complexity with notes of watermelon, candy floss and anise with a generous palate and lingering finish.” Olly Masters (Winemaker)
Vintage Notes
After early spring heat, we experienced our first ever significant frost event in late October. Our slopes provided their normal protection, but the frost’s duration caused damage to the more gentle sloping terraces. As it was an early season frost, the vineyard recovered remarkably well. The next major impact was a hailstorm on the 2nd February resulting in fruit loss on a few blocks but had more impact in term of leaf damage which then stalled some of the growth. A generally cooler season than usual with El Niño weather patterns delivering more westerly winds but low rainfall. Harvest started at a fairly typical time at
the end of March when we picked the first of the Pinot Noir for the rosé. In spite of a challenging season, the overall quality of the fruit has been very good – but a smaller crop. The fruit for this Rosé was hand-picked at an average yield of 6 T/ha and Growing Degree Days (GDDs) were 1040.
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 | UCD6 (53%) Cl114 (47%) |
| Planting | 2005/07, Altitude: 210 – 245m | Harvested | 26 & 27 March 2024 |
| Harvest Analysis | Brix: 22.6 / pH: 3.21 / TA: 4.3 g/l | Bottled | 11 September 2024 (Stelvin closure) |
| Wine Analysis | Alc:13.5% / pH: 3.41 / TA: 6.2 g/l | Cellaring | 1-3+ years |
| Residual Sugar | 2 g/l | Style | Dry |
Winemaking
This year all of the Rosé Pinot Noir fruit was lightly crushed, retaining stalks, into picking bins for 6 hr of soaking to extract some colour and flavour from the skins. This is a less extractive process compared to previous vintages with the subsequent wine being our lightest coloured Pinot Rosé, it still avoids the tannins that would be extracted if the ferment was carried out on the skins like a red wine. The clear juice is fermented in stainless steel, at low temperatures (15ºC), to retain aromatics and provide a freshness to the wine. A small proportion (3%) was also fermented in older oak to add complexity. The resulting Rosé is dry in style, with plenty of varietal character and fruit purity.
