Viticulture

The Staete Landt Estate is set in the heart of Marlborough’s “Golden Mile” in Rapaura. Soil types within the 52 acre Estate range from clayish to stonier river gravel. Making the most of the different soil types, we have 12 individual parcels of Pinot Noir, each providing a specific flavour component to the ensuing wine. Vintage 2008 began with beautifully warm and settled weather, ensuring we had large full bunches of fruit. This meant we had to heavily fruit thin over the summer months. Almost 60% of the fruit and the shoulders were hand removed, leaving us with approximately 2 tonners/acre (32hl/ha.) of optimum fruit. The warm start to the season continued right throughout January, February and March. In fact the lead in period to vintage 2008 was warmer than average with higher than average sunshine hours, which meant harvest began slightly earlier than in previous years.

Each of the 12 individual Pinot Noir parcels was handpicked. The vineyard is planted with four different clones; clone 114, 115, 777 and clone 5. The clones are planted on various rootstocks (Riparia Gloire, 101-14 and Schwarzmann). Because each clone and rootstock combination is planted on quite different soils on either side of the vineyard, each of the parcels has its own unique flavour and tannin expression.

Harvest Dates: 18 March – 25 March
Brix: 24.9 – 26.4

Winemaking

The handpicked fruit was de-stemmed prior to going to tank, where it 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. Each of the 12 parcels spent a varying time on skins, with the maximum period being 45 days. Once post ferment maceration was complete, the wine was pressed off, settled briefly then racked straight to barrels to undergo malo-lactic fermentation. We used a mixture of 25% new French oak and 75% older French oak barrels.
Still in their individual parcels, the wines were aged on lees until they were eventually racked in early 2008 when they were blended and returned to barrel. In total the wine spends 18 months in barrel, adding to the complexity.

Wine Analysis

Alcohol: 14%; Acidity: 5.5g/l; pH: 3.37; Sugar: <1 g/l

Tasting Note

The 2008 Pinot Noir is a beautiful round and well textured wine with a fragrance of ripe cherries, wild violets and ‘forrest floor on an early autumn day’. In the mouth the wine is weighty with black tea tannins, shows great length and beautiful balance between sweet ripe berrie fruit and more savoury characters such as ‘leather saddles’ and barnyard characteristics which will develop over time in the bottle.
A very attractive wine, lots of ‘pinosity’ and a fabulous companion with food.