Pinot Noir 2019
Tasting Notes
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck… the nose and palate all say Pinot Noir; The Bosworth PN is very varietal, with a nose of strawberries and plums with a spicy lift. The palate is all silk and with buckets of red fruit characters all wrapped up in gentle tannins. A ripper of a wine. Match made in heaven with duck. Best mates, in fact.
Vintage
We had good spring rains but lower summer rainfall than we usually receive in McLaren Vale. As a result of this dry growing period, disease pressure was low (no mildews!) although we had a couple of heat spikes in late January and some hot days in February which resulted in reduced crops compared to 2018 (down by up to 30% depending on variety). Whites were picked early in February and picking of the reds started at the beginning of March and was largely all over by the end of the month. Quality is terrific however, and we have great hopes for the reds from 2019 and judging by this (new) white wine, the whites are pretty smart too.
Winemaking
From some of the last surviving Pinot Noir vines in McLaren Vale, we make the Bosworth Pinot as if we lived in Beaujolais, the region to the south of Burgundy in France which is famous for its Gamay (not to try and confuse the issue; we don't have Gamay here). Not that we are riding around on big black bicycles with a string of onions around our necks and a baguette stuffed in our back pocket. More that we want to make our Pinot with soft tannins, and we are aiming for a fresh bright light and varietal style.
We pick the Pinot a little leaner ( this means we pick it a little earlier, so with a little less sugar) and we ferment about 30% of the grapes anaerobically in old apple bins (carbonic maceration) which helps soften the tannins. The wine spends about 6 months in older oak. It’s a lovely light luncheon wine.
Other Vintages
Technical Details
Vineyards: Braden's and Cox
Picking Date: 14th and 16th February 2019
Bottling Date: 3rd July 2019
Alc/Vol: 14.0%