Blue Rock Pinot Noir 2020
Hillside frost-free site planted over limestone and clay. The oldest Pinot Noir block was planted in 1986 and is still on its own roots. Distinct from the Eclipse vineyard because of vastly different geology with the clays that deliver rich, velvety texture. This is perhaps a more approachable wine than Eclipse, but still with elegance and underlying power.
Winemaker Note
“Bright and Fresh, deep ruby red. A deep, complex and refined version of our Blue Rock terrior. Pretty cherry and rose oil with subtle violet florals which in a way belie the power and darkness brooding beneath. Game, earth, silt and something just out of reach… Palate is a study of tension and texture. Super refined and focused. Very pure and elegant with precise tannins and pitch perfect tone. So much more to unwind. Feels like a wine for the ages. Pretty epic. Really neat wine to savour now but ideally drink from mid-2024 onwards for a decade plus. Delicious with roast game fowl served with polenta and spiced beetroot & walnut salad. ”
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From the start of the 2019/2020 growing season things looked promising! Great, even budburst with only a few relatively minor frost events. We went into this critical part of the season in the best shape yet in terms of our organic regime, with full under vine cultivation completed along with extensive spring inter-row cropping to ensure the vines had the best possible start. Conditions through spring were relatively normal; plenty of wind, some rain but not too much! With a classic Martinborough North West/South West flow. Flowering was very successful and a good sized crop was on the cards! The ripening season was long and dry but not overly hot. If one had to make any complaint at all it may have been that it was perhaps a little too dry! As we practice dry farming there was definitely signs of water stress in the canopy across some of the blocks. Welcome rain arrived just after the start of harvest but in the main conditions for picking were excellent and we had the rare pleasure of picking exactly when we wanted too! I feel strongly that 2020 will go down in the books as a great vintage for Martinborough.
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Harvested at Blue Rock Vineyard between 20-26 March. This vintage was sourced from the most mature blocks, Pipers Block, Jims Block and Highfold Block C; average vine age of 25 years. Majority of bunches were de-stemmed directly into two and three ton open top fermenters. Every effort was made to preserve as much “whole berry” as possible. This, along with the use of cooling helps to ensure a slow onset of full fermentation allowing the native non–saccharomyces yeasts time to perform an initial ferment before the stronger, more dominant native saccharomyces yeast strains take over and complete full alcoholic fermentation. Plunging was limited to two times each day. Total maceration time for this vintage was between 20–30 days before gentle pressing. Two ton of excellent Pinot Clusters sourced from Pipers Block were fermented 100% whole bunch. This batch was pressed separately. Once the wine had settled in tank for three or four days it was transferred to French oak puncheons for maturation.
Malolactic fermentation completed naturally during the winter of 2020. In total the wine spent 12 months in barrel and around 7 months settling in tank post blending. New oak in the finished wine is around 20%. Whole bunch component was around 15%. The only additions were sulphur dioxide post malo followed by a small top up prior to bottling. Bottled Unfined and Unfiltered.
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pH 3.72
TA 5.5 g/L
RS <1.0 g/L
Alc 14 %
Bottled Nov 21
Recent Reviews
“Gorgeously complex and seductive, the bouquet shows dark berry, dried herb, cedar, dried mushroom and rich floral aromas, followed by a concentrated palate delivering excellent weight and richly textured mouthfeel. Tannins are fine and beautifully infused, making it structured and harmonious with a lingering satisfying finish.”
