This wine is from our Red Hill vineyard which we manage with the help of Martin our vineyard manager. The vines are 24 years old now. It’s a warm site, sitting at 90m with a northern exposure. In 2018 we used only the MV6 clone. Half of the block was destemmed, the other half fermented as 100% whole bunches. The components were pressed separately after three weeks on skins. After 12 months in barrel, we selected the barrels we felt worked best together, resulting in a blend that is 50% whole bunches and 25% new oak. After two months integrating in tank, the wine was lightly filtered and bottled in August 2019.

“Forgive me for putting it this way but I’d describe this as a ‘true pinot’. It has a sense of in-built complexity that is outside of the norm. It’s like rhubarb and raspberry, beet and strawberry rolled through leaves and spice, but presented as a seamless whole. It has a gentle firmness to the tannin, an undergrowth aspect. It’s complex already but it has the future at its feet.”

Campbell Mattinson, Winefront