Catalina Sounds Marlborough Pinot Noir 2017

Description

• Oaked
• Wild berry fruits
• Dark cherry
• Roasted notes

A beautiful garnet red colour in the glass, with appealing savoury wild berry fruit flavours, dark cherry and roasted notes supported by an elegant silken tannin framework which carries flavour to a sustained, immensely satisfying finish.

A terrific start to the growing season for Pinot Noir resulted in full crops and the potential for a great season. Although late season rain did strike Marlborough, much of the Pinot Noir was harvested before these events, ensuring fruit was still in excellent condition. Fruit for this wine was harvested from March 29th through until April 11th 2017 predominantly out of Marlborough’s clay rich Southern Valleys. The wine belies its moderate alcohol (12.8%) with a density and structure rarely seen from Marlborough.

As always, winemaking was very hands on for this wine. Hand picked fruit was destemmed and transferred to open top fermenters for at least a 5 day cold soak. When signs of natural fermentation were obvious, the tanks were warmed, allowing fermentation to get into full swing. The ferments were plunged a maximum of twice daily until dry, before an extended maceration on skins for up to 7 days. Once pressed, the wines were run to French oak barriques (15% new) for natural malolactic fermention and maturation for a total of 10 months. The wine was blended in late January 2018 before bottling in February 2018.

Food Pairing: Drink with meals featuring game meats or mushrooms.