Kelly Washington Marlborough Pinot Blanc 2020

Description

• Dry style
• French oak
• Vibrant fruit
• Lengthy finish

"One of a handful of fashionable pinot blancs now being produced in this country. This example is a bit like pinot gris without overt stone fruit flavours. I get vanilla, toasted nut and baguette crust characters supported by reasonably gentle acidity" Bob Campbell MW, Mar 2021

Incredibly refined and elegant, the Kelly Washington Pinot Blanc shows a wonderful synergy between vibrancy of fruit, phenolic structure, and texture. Seamlessly dry and lengthy, the wine shows off nicely the minimal intervention in winemaking practise, yet is also expressive and fleshy, with ample concentration.

This Pinot Blanc is grown on an organic and biodynamically farmed vineyard in the Rapaura Subregion of Marlborough of 100% Pinot Blanc variety.

For Vintage 2020 at Kelly Washington, the focus was placed even more so on producing very small volumes of wine from extraordinary fruit. This was a blessing, given the added pressures the Covid-19 presented right before harvest commenced. Another blessing was the naturally low yields that eventuated, and also Mother Nature waving her sunshine wand in their direction. Descriptors such as purity, vibrancy, vitality, intensity summarised all of the fruit that was harvested, which was supported by extremely settled and warm conditions over flowering and then in the lead up to harvest commencing.

A combination of heavy and light soils have aided to create a deep wine full of great personality and natural balance. The grapes were 100% handpicked 24 months after vine planting, whole bunch pressed and naturally fermented in a cement egg & French Oak barriques. There is minimal settling with this wine.