Winemaking

Bunches are carefully sorted upon arrival at the winery on a sorting table then conveyed to a ‘state of the art’ incline destemmer. The whole berries are gently conveyed directly to open fermenters with a minimal addition of SO2. A natural ferment starts usually within 4 days but hand plunging commences from the start until draining/pressing. Usually between 10-14 days from harvest, the wine is drained, the skins pressed gently and combined with the free run wine which is settled for a week or so before racking to barrel using gravity. Malo Lactic occurs naturally in barrel and once complete the wine gets another small SO2 addition. Our Premium Pinot is a selection of only the very best barrels of which 36% were new this year. All barrels are light toasted and extra tight grain oak. Barrels are topped and checked regularly. Wine stays in barrel for 14 months, when it’s simply gravity decanted off lees via a spigot inserted at the bottom of the barrel to a blending tank. No fining of any sort, or filtration before bottling in July 2023.

Vintage 2022

A challenging vintage with high early disease pressure. Weather conditions were wet and cool during spring/ early summer affecting flowering and fruit set, resulting in a 50% decrease in Yields, but then warmed up a bit through summer and autumn. Total rainfall of 428 mm over the growing period and a warm summer kept vines in good health. We started handpicking Pinot Noir from the Leongatha South vineyard on the 24th March, finishing on the 31st March as ripening was staggered. Ripeness ranged from 13.2 -14.4 Baume, with good acid/ pH balance. Yields were a very low 2 tonne / hectare but quality was very high. 
Tasting Notes

Glace cherries and savory, dusty notes greet the nose initially but also showing hints of vanilla and spice; refined and poised at this stage but rest assured complexity will crescendo with time. The palate is svelte and satiny, lovely balance, resolved and complete with lovely length that will only get better with age. If drunk young we recommend decanting for an hour or so.