Amisfield Central Otago Pinot Noir 2020

Description

• French oak
• Black doris plum
• Bright acidity
• Fine tannins

"Deeply scented pinot noir with floral, red rose, cassis, ripe plum and dark cherry flavours. Intense, sumptuous wine with a firm structure and a lengthy finish. Good now but should develop well with time" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Sep 2022

Concentrated notes of black doris plum and dark red fruits combine with a complementary savoriness building layers of complexity into the wine. Structural, fine grained tannins provide lovely weight and backbone which is framed with bright natural acidity and well integrated french oak.

Grown across the Estate with vines planted in the Waenga silty loam soils of our lower terraces and the more gravelly Lochar sandy loams of the blocks beside the winery.

Central Otago experienced a growing season of extremes. Rain and strong wind through November and December impacted flowering, reducing yields. This was followed by a warm and mild January which helped develop healthy canopies. At harvest, nighttime temperatures plummeted, dramatically slowing the pace of ripening. This helped retain bright acidity, and allowed picking to extend from mid-March until mid-May. The small crops ensured great concentration of flavour.

Hand-harvested fruit was cold soaked for four to five days before natural fermentation began. Gentle, selective timing of hand plunging and pump overs during fermentation helped to extract the delicate skin and seed tannins. Approximately 10% whole-bunch clusters were included in some of the ferments. After fermentation we tasted the wines daily to assess the tannin development prior to transfer to barrel where maturation took place for 15 months in French oak.