2013 Whitehaven Pinot Noir

Colour / Appearance:Bright ruby with a garnet hue.
Aroma / Bouquet:Bright raspberry and cherry fruit flavours with hints of violets, nutmeg spice and oak char.
Palate:This wine has a finely balanced, elegant structure and supple, silky tannins. The palate shows a complex array of bright red fruits and savoury flavours. These flavours persist on the long, fresh finish.
Cellaring:Will age well with careful cellaring for three to six years.
Food Match:Try this wine with game meats such as duck or venison.
Serve:At room temperature.

Wine Analysis

Alcohol:14%
Residual Sugar:<2.0 g/L
Titratable Acidity:5.7 g/L
pH:3.67

Viticulture

Harvest Date:30th March – 12th April 2013
Climate:The season started with a relatively cool and wet spring. This was followed by a warm, dry summer with little rainfall. Favourable conditions over the flowering period gave slightly above average yields. The dry conditions continued to the end of the season, meaning the fruit could be picked at optimum ripeness and in clean conditions.
Vine Management:The fruit for this wine was sourced from six vineyards located in the Awatere, Wairau and Southern Valley sub-regions of Marlborough. Vines are trained on a standard two cane trellis with shoot thinning carried out to ensure a healthy open canopy. The fruit was thinned later in the season to ensure concentrated ripe varietal flavours.

Vinification

Winemaking:The fruit was hand-picked in the cool autumn mornings. It was later de-stemmed and transferred to open top vats to cold soak for five to six days prior to fermentation. The fruit was hand plunged three to four times daily to ensure gentle colour and flavour extraction. Racked into a selection of new and old French oak barrels, the wine was left to mature and underwent a spontaneous malolactic fermentation in spring. The wine was barrel aged for 11 months prior to bottling in March 2014.
Winemaker:Sam Smail and Rowan Langdon

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2013

Pinot Noir