Pinot Noir 2013
Tasting Notes
The wine is light red, but nice and bright, too. This is a classic Pinot colour. The nose shows bright, pretty and fresh red fruits, and these characters are very evident on the palate. There is a delicious perfume about this wine, and it finishes nice and tight, with a lovely length. The gentle silky tannins in the Battle Pinot Noir can more than handle a spell in the fridge if the weather is warm. This wine goes very well with cheeses, chicken dishes and charcuterie.
Vintage
We had good winter rains then warm summer conditions which brought about an early harvest. We had a few hot-cool-hot-cool periods which made it a little trickier to decide when to pick, but Joch reckons he got it right in the end.
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: 11th, 13th and 18th February 2013
Bottling Date: 2nd December 2013
pH Level: 3.82
Alc/Vol: 14.0%