Viticulture

The Staete Landt Vineyard located in Marlborough’s top Rapaura region experienced a completely different weather pattern in the lead up to the 2005 vintage. The early part of the growing season right through to mid-summer was quite wet and cold which had some influence on flowering and fruit set of most varietals, including our Pinot Noir. We therefore needed to do less fruit removal than in recent years.
From mid-January onwards a variable weather pattern emerged with a pick up in average temperatures. The cropping level of the vines was adjusted to just below 2 tonnes/acre (32 hl/ha) during veraison ensuring that we obtained the best possible fruit with complexity and concentration. The final one and half months prior to harvest were ideal: warm and dry often with very cool night time temperatures. This quite delayed harvest but resulted in Pinot Noir with good ripeness, tannin structure and vivid colour composition.

The grapes were hand picked from twelve different Pinot Noir blocks comprising mainly of clone 777, clone 115, clone 114 and clone 5 from different terroirs in our vineyard and planted in different rootstock combinations.

Harvest Dates: 10 April – 14 April 2005
Brix: 24.9 – 26.9

Winemaking

Only hand picked grapes were used for this wine. The grapes were de-stemmed only to tank where they underwent a cold maceration phase of six to ten days prior to primary alcoholic fermentation and a post ferment maceration phase of up to 35 days. The total time on skins varied with the fruit parcel however the maximum was 45 days. Once post ferment maceration was completed the wine was pressed off and settled briefly before being racked straight to barrels to undergo malo-lactic fermentation in a mixture of 25% new French oak and 75% older French oak barrels.
The wines were then aged on lees until they were eventually racked in early 2006 when they were blended and returned to barrel.
The wine was aged in barrel for a total of 18 months.

Wine Analysis

Alcohol: 14 %; Acidity: 6.45g/l; pH: 3.44; Sugar: <2.0 g/l

Tasting Note

This wine was aged in 25% new French oak barrels and 75% older French oak barrels. This has contributed to the development of a complex and structured wine with powerful and ripe, spicy fruit driven tannins. This Pinot Noir has aromas of ripe black cherries and violets with a lovely earthy complexity underpinned with subtle liquorice characters. This is a full-bodied wine with an elegant tannin structure and a lingering finish.
This wine will repay cellaring for three to five years.