Pinot Noir 2012
Tasting Notes
The colour is classic Pinot; bright, light red. This is the second vintage of our Pinot Noir and once again, we have made an even, light to middle-weight wine with good length and balance. With regard to a tasting note, I shall leave it up to the judges from the 2013 Australia and New Zealand Organic Wine Show (where the 2012 Pinot Noir got a silver medal). Here as a stream of consciousness is what they said: ‘my kind of pinot / perfumed, pretty, violetty, fleshy / perfumed red fruit / bright fruit, good acid, zippy / happy and joyful and delicious / lots going on in the mouth / not serious, but interesting / wild fruit, different, characterful’
Vintage
It is a massive truism, but really, every vintage is different. Vintage 2012 was condensed into about 8 weeks from go to whoa which meant we had finished crushing all grapes by the end of March. Generally this feat would only be accomplished by the middle to end of April. Yields across all varieties were considerably down on average (from 15-40% in some varieties), but quality is looking very promising for both reds and whites. We had cool conditions up until the end of February then some rain, which did not affect things too much (see vintage 2011)as the whites were already picked and safely in the winery, and reds were unaffected. Joch’s prediction, with further checks on wine in barrel and subsequent contemplation is that 2012 will be a great red wine year.
Winemaking
Pinot Noir was planted on our Braden’s vineyard in 1987, with many hands making light work; one notable pair of hands involved in planting were those of the schoolboy Joch who was put to work in the vineyards every holiday. We put about 30% of the Pinot Noir through carbonic fermentation in plastic bags in old apple crates. The idea of this winemaking process (where in fact we don’t crush the berries at all) is to soften out the tannins. We processed the balance of the grapes in a fairly standard red winemaking fashion; crushed, fermented, pressed off skins into (predominantly older) oak before blending back to the ‘cab mac’ component and bottling.
Other Vintages
Technical Details
Vineyards: Braden's and a little from Cox's
Picking Date: 6th, 13th and 17th February 2012
Bottling Date: 7th December 2012
pH Level: 3.58
Total Acidity: 6.05
Alc/Vol: 13.0%