Dog Point Marlborough Pinot Noir 2017

Description

• Oaked
• Brown spice
• Juicy fruit
• Ripe tannins

"Deliciously fruit Pinot Noir with plum, dark cherry, anise, spice and nutty oak flavours among the more obvious descriptors. A dense wine with underlying power and obvious potential but dangerously drinkable now. This must be one of Marlborough's most consistently top reds. And it's organic" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Oct 2019

Deep ruby in colour. Perfumed, red berry fruits and bright, violet aromas. The fruit is supported by dried herb and characteristic brown spice notes and complex smokiness. A dense core of juicy fruit and bold, fine grained, ripe tannins. A fresh thread of fine acidity emerges and carries the intense flavours through the palate, finishing very long. This wine has all the makings of a long lived Marlborough Pinot Noir.

The 2017 harvest will be remembered as the shortest one ever (21 days) at Dog Point Vineyard, later than normal due to the abnormally late Summer weather, and finishing before major rain events in mid April. It began with warm spring and summer weather resulting in good bud-burst and desirable even growth. Cool weather followed in early December with dry, and at times windy, weather mid-Summer. Late February rain helped replenish the soil prior to harvest, and cooler but otherwise excellent growing conditions prevailed into the autumn. Attentive viticultural practice allowed to achieve optimum physiological ripeness at lower sugars, resulting in impressive fruit flavours.

Hand picked and chilled overnight prior to handsorting. 75% destemmed and 25% whole bunches included. Fermented in small stainless open top fermenters with 100% indigenous yeasts over a period of 3 weeks prior to pressing into French oak barrels for eighteen months (35% new). Bottled without fining or filtration.