Mt Difficulty Long Gully Bannockburn Chenin Blanc 2021

Description

• Off-dry style
• Lemon & lime
• Subtle spice
• Vibrant acidity

"A wonderful rendition showing ripe apple, rockmelon and rich floral aromas on the nose with a subtle spice overtone. The concentrated palate delivers terrific fruit intensity combined with silky texture and vibrant acidity, finishing impressively long and succulent. Style: Off-dry. At its best: now to 2030" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, May 2022

"Aromas of white flower and apples, fresh citrus flesh with a core mineral stone and lees spice. Flavours on the palate mirror the boquet plus quince and honeysuckle. Lovely acid line and smooth satin texture contrasted by acidity and youthful freshness. Balanced and lengthy presented in an off-dry expression. Best drinking from 2022 through 2028+" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Jul 2022

Bursting with limes, lemon, yuzu and honeysuckle florals, with a bright palate with a line of mineral acidity balanced wiht a residual sweetness for a juicy, moreish finish. Mt Difficultly Long Gully Chenin Blanc will improve for 5 years given optimal cellaring conditions.

Grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty Bannockburn label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed by our viticultural team and must be sourced from Bannockburn vineyards - the south side of the Kawarau River in the southern Cromwell basin. Each has a specific terroir, largely influenced by climate and a variety of soil types. Mt Difficulty Bannockburn Chenin Blanc is sourced from our Long Gully vineyard consisting of Lochar soils with thin and wavy clay pans which are deep enough to cause no impediment to roots or drainage. These are well-drained, high pH soils ideally suited to high quality viticulture. They generally have a 30 cm depth of top soil over fine to moderately coarse gravels. This vineyard is perched atop the banks of the Kawarau River and is one of the oldest sites in Bannockburn.

The 2021 growing season was a return to the enviable conditions that Central Otago is famous for. We started with a warm spring, which gave the vines a good start. January was cooler and wetter, which replenished the soils and slowed growth, giving small, intensely flavoured grapes. By the time the beginning of harvest rolled around, we were just ahead of our long term average in terms of rate of ripening, and with fruit in fantastic condition giving the wines excellent flavour and structure.

The nature of the fruit this season, with slightly lower acidities, dictated the style in which we made the wine. The juice was handled in a reductive fashion throughout processing. The wine was racked clean and fermented with indigenous yeast to retain the purity of the fruit. The ferment was stopped by chilling and racking to another tank. This wine was filtered but not fined.