"A stunning vintage for Pinot Noir, across all clones, on our Raupo vineyard. Dark and brooding, brimming with dense plum and black cheery aromas. The palate is multi layered and structured, yet vibrant and energetic, with the fruit and savoury notes combing to create a serious, yet delicious and approachable cool climate Pinot Noir."

Winemaking
Six clones of Pinot Noir were handpicked individually from our Osip hill slope. The fruit was destemmed and fermented in small open-top fermenters. Fermentation occurred naturally, with gentle plunging once daily. After spending 21–28 days on skins, each batch was pressed off and rested for 9 months in French oak barriques — 15% new, with the remainder in second-, third-, and fourth-fill barrels, along with some neutral barriques. All of the batches completed malolactic fermentation naturally. Prior to bottling, the wine was racked out of barriques to blend and clarify naturally in a stainless steel vessel. It was then filtered and bottled.

Vintage
The season commenced with a stunningly dry winter, ensuring no interruptions to our pruning, enabling an early budburst across the board. Spring is remembered for strong winds, and although the fine weather remained in general, a few significant rain events kept the soil moisture levels decent and the vine growth fresh. The conditions over the whole vintage period were extremely favourable, textbook Marlborough in fact, with warm days, bright blue sky days and cool nights. We commenced harvest early on March 8th and continued slowly yet rigorously, until our final pick on April 8th.

Viticulture
Our clay rich Raupo Creek vineyard, farmed following organic and biodynamic principles, is located in the centre of the Omaka Valley. This vineyard has a gentle north-west facing aspect and enjoys high sunshine hours and minimal rain.