VINTAGE: The once in a lifetime floods of April 2005 (more than 250mm in less than 24 hours) started our winter on a muddy foot. Fortunately the rest of our winter was rather dry. A spell of unusual warm weather over mid winter gave cause to uneven budding in spring. Add to this gale force westerly winds in the middle of September to October and it is clear why our crop was reduced to 1.5 Tons/Ha estimate. Despite the unusual start, the rest of our growing season was perfect. Moderate south-easterly winds with 80% cloud cover resulted in an extended ripening period towards the end of January. Although cool, our summer was dry producing a small but healthy crop. Harvesting was done by hand in the first week of February. By then our crop was reduced to 800 kg/ha by our feathered friends.

CELLAR REPORT

Grape varieties: 100 % Pinot Noir

Age of vines: 4 years

Clone: PN 777A, PN 9, PN 459, PN 5D

Vinification: After destemming the berries was cold soaked at 10˚C for 5 days to extract colour and soft tannins. After inoculation with selected yeasts strains the wine was fermented at 23˚C with pumpovers three times daily. Once dry the wine was racked and pressed followed by 11 months barrel maturation in 300l  French oak barrels.

Bottling date: 30 January 2007

Production:  4 500 bottles (Sold Out)

Wine analysis: Alc = 13.71%alc/vol; pH 3.64; TA 5.5; Sugar 2.1g/l

Tasting comments: Medium bodied with elegance and finesse, sweet fennel and raspberry combined with spicy oak tannins.