Winemaking

After careful hand-harvesting, the grapes for this wine were gently whole-bunched pressed by modern membrane presses. The resulting juice was then moved without settling to a selection of both new and old French oak barriques for fermentation. Specially chosen yeasts were used to inoculate the majority of the barrels, with a small proportion left to undergo a natural or ‘wild’ fermentation with indigenous yeasts. After fermentation was complete each barrel underwent twice weekly batonage - or lees stirring - promoting yeast autolysis which adds both body and complexity to the wine. Malolactic fermentation naturally occurred once the weather warmed in the spring, with barrel batches carefully monitored during this time. Once the MLF had finished each barrel was individually assessed, with only the best barrels making it to the final blend. Once blended was completed the wine was filtered and bottled without the need
for fining in mid-March.

Viticulture

The grapes for this wine are sourced from premium vineyard sites in the
sun-drenched Nelson region located in the upper South Island of New Zealand.The 2014/2015 growing season in Nelson began with overall cooler conditions that lead to a cool and damp flowering period - resulting in a lighter crop throughout the blocks. Shot and fruit thinning was kept to a minimum due to the lighter crops, however some fruit thinning was required to avoid bunched overlapping and to improve air circulation and increase fruit exposure. Drought conditions from January meant that unlike most years we were unable to dry farm, and the blocks had to be irrigated. Meticulous vine management from our vineyard team kept the fruit disease-free, despite high pressure caused by mild night temperatures and high dew fall. Harvest started much earlier than usual, with the first fruit harvested on the 25th March with sugar levels reaching around 23 brix.
on average.

Analysis

Vintage: 2015

Alcohol: 13.5%

pH: 3.44

T/A: 5.3 g/L

R.S: 3.5 g/L