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VINEYARD BLOCKS
Part of our original Mont Fleur block planted in 1983 for
"home consumption" only. The Pinot Noir vines represent
a tiny area of approx. 0.1 ha - 5 wire vertical trellis with
1.35m row width. Vine density 7500 vines/ha. Soil red Hutton
mostly. Clone BK5 on R99 rootstock. No irrigation. A tiny
quantity - 50kg - from our new mountainside vineyard. Clones
PN115 & PN777 on R99 rootstock.
Yield 3 - 4 tons/ha.
VINTAGE CONDITIONS
A dry, hot summer. The ripening period was hot and dry, but
thankfully not too many excessively hot days. The harvest
was early with ripe, healthy grapes producing big wines with
high alcohols.
Harvest date: 18/2/99 @ 23.5° balling.
PRODUCTION
50kg from our new vineyard picked 1 week before harvest from
original vineyard. This was destemmed and crushed into a small
100 l tub and cooled down as much as possible to delay fermentation.
Spontaneous natural yeast fermentation
started after 3 days. The BK5 block was fermented in a larger
600L tub up to max. 30ºC. The cap of skins was punched
down manually 2 - 4 times a day for 10 days. Wine drained
directly to single 225L barrel together with single pressing
from traditional basket press.
All our red wine undergo malolactic fermentation in the barrel.
A little topping wine had to be bartered from a friendly,
nearby winery to keep the barrel full.
Time in barrel 17 months with only a single racking.
This wine was bottled directly from the barrel unfiltered
by hand.
Bottling date: 21/7/00.
Production: 23 cases.
TASTING NOTES
Clear pale ruby - typically Pinot - colour. Ripe strawberry,
cherry, earthy chalk and nutty aromas. Silky textured palate
with just enough tannic structure to provide good maturation
potential. Keep another year to settle down and keep for further
5 + years. Good Pinot always accompanies a wide variety of
meals from seafood to steak. Try with wild mushroom pasta
or veal dishes.
ANALYSIS
Alc. 14.32 Sugar 1.5 TA 5.9
VA 0.86 pH 3.64 SO2 25 - 43
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