Blind River Marlborough Pinot Noir 2022

Description

Oak, Raspberry, Spice

"A fine bouquet with complexity and completeness, featuring ripe red berry fruits, led by strawberry compote and cherry, followed by scents of raspberry and florals. Dry and delicious on the palate, this wine has poise and complexity, with fine chalky tannins, a smooth mouthfeel, and a saline-edged, fresh acid line. Well made, lightweight, and refined. Best drinking from day of purchase through to 2029" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier

This wine has a delicate burgundy hue. The nose has lovely, layered aromas of red cherry, sweet French oak and attractive spicy notes. The palate is gentle and round with sweet fruit flavours combining with vanilla, spice and char to produce a wine with depth and intrigue.

Our Blind River vineyard in the Awatere valley has a 1.9ha block of Pinot Noir. It is a cool site that requires careful nurturing to ensure evenly ripe fruit. This means cropping at a low level and maintaining an open canopy. This ongoing attention to detail makes all the difference when it comes to producing great wine. The 2022 vintage was a good season with slightly larger than normal bunches that we were able to ripen nicely.

Hand-picked and carefully destemmed into two small open top fermenters, the juice was held at 10C for cold maceration for five days to assist in developing the primary fruit characters. This was followed by fermentation with temperatures peaking at 30C and the vats were pumped over twice a day. A week after fermentation, the wines were pressed to French oak barriques (25% new oak) and aged for ten months.

Food Pairing: Lamb, venison, duck, pheasant, pork belly, turkey, seared tuna, hot ham, boeuf bourguignon, Coq au Vin, rare beef, dishes with rosemary and other strong herbs, mushrooms, cassoulet, beetroot, seared spiced salmon, gentle Asian-inspired flavours.