Infusion Pinot Noir 2021

A chilled red wine with light body and concentrated fruit characters, crunchy red berries, cherry, raspberry and cranberry, with light spice, a fine tannin structure and a splash of acidity.

Our ‘chilled red’ or structured version of a Rosé, this very small single parcel was first released in 2016. This Pinot Noir was made without the normal extraction from the grape skins during fermentation. Instead, the grapes infused in their juice before being pressed and fermented in old barrels. Best served lightly chilled, our Infusion Pinot Noir is a pure, vibrant, gentle expression made using minimal intervention. A moreish wine with great freshness and vibrancy. 

Winemaker’s Notes

The grapes are hand-picked from one block that sits adjacent to Lake Dunstan on the Rocky Point Vineyard in Bendigo. This block is warm and early ripening, free draining, with predominantly schist soils on a steep northerly-facing slope.

Extensive canopy and crop management is carried out during the growing season to ensure the grapes attained full physiological ripeness with great concentration, aromatics, and flavour. Yields are kept low and do not exceed 38hl/ha or 5t/ha.

The fruit is handpicked early in the morning at low temperatures and destemmed into a small tank. The grapes then ‘infuse’ in the juice, gently extracting colour and flavour over 10-14 days. When the indigenous ‘wild’ ferment is about to start, the tank is pressed to neutral oak barrels for fermentation. After fermentation, the wine in matured on its yeast lees until bottling without going through malolactic fermentation to preserve freshness. The wine is bottled under screw-cap.

Our winemaking aims to be an exercise in understanding and translating our stunning sites into wine as accurately as possible with a minimum of winery signature. This engaging wine has great purity and freshness with lovely structure that makes for versatile food matches. On the vineyard it is our absolute favourite wood-fired pizza wine.

Enjoyable in its youth and developing more savoury complexity over 5-7 years from vintage.

9 barrels were made.

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Details

Type:

Red

Varietal:

Pinot Noir

Region:

Central Otago

Appellation:

Bendigo

Vintage:

2021