Luna Estate Martinborough Rosé 2023

Description

Floral, Off-dry, Raspberry

"Aromas and flavours of peaches and saffron, apricot tea and red apple, there’s a rush of  begins to flavours on the palate before acidity begins to contrast. Some very fine fruit tannins add mouthfeel. A just dry expression with a tickle of sweetness, a core of fruit flavours that are persistent leading to a balanced, even finish. Best drinking from day of purchase through end of summer 2025" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Feb 2024

Clear, bright appearance with a lively copper wire colour. Lifted and bright aromatic floral notes, almost botanic sort of gin and tonic like scents, gentle raspberry and some pink grapefruit themes as well. In short, very much a summer by the pool feel. Tastes like it smells! Really juicy and delicious with a lovely soft almost pillowy feel on the pallet; a tangy, grapefruity, energetic acidity keeps it all fresh and moreish.

There is a saying in the wine industry - "There are no bad vintages, just the odd challenging one". Vintage 2023 here in Martinborough would certainly fit into the challenging category. The now infamous triple dip La Nina certainly lived ut to the hype. Persistent rainfall and high temperatures are not conditions that favour grape farmers. It took all of our collective skill and hard work to pull the crop through.

Winemaking can be a tough trade and unlike beer or gin makers we only get one sot each year to create our product, and it's all about the quality of the fruit! If mother nature does not abide then tough luck, you gotta work with what you get.

Upon reflection, vintage 2023, whilst very challenging and far from "classic", was actually very successful, for us at least. Certainly a tale of two vineyards; our Blue Rock Vineyard performed extremely well and quality was outstanding. Less so our Eclipes vineyard, although there were some excellent pockets, particularly Chardonnay. The biggest take home for me personally was the excellent, never say die attitude of our team. We rallied hard, we doubled down and we never gave up! It is true that adversity builds strength and resilience.

Making awesome wine from the tougher seasons is what this job is all about! Bring on the next vintage.

This seasons Rosé was crafted primarily using the Pinot Meunier growing on our Blue Rock vineyard. The fruit was whole bunch pressed to avoid over extraction.

Free run and light pressed juice was sent to a temperature controlled stainless steel tank for long, cool fermentation.

The harder pressed, darker coloured juice was fermented in seasoned 500L oak.

Included in the final blend were to 500L barrels from our sparkling base wine stock.

Food Pairing: This is an outdoors summer wine! Late afternoon bbq fare and good company is what I'd recommend.