Mystery Marlborough Pinot Noir 2020 (Export Wine) (03)

Description

• French oak
• Dark cherry
• Toasted nut
• Silky-smooth

"Sweetly ripe and inviting, the bouquet shows dark cherry, warm mushroom, game and toasted nut aromas, leading to a silky-smooth palate offering juicy fruit flavours with savoury nuances. It's supple and rounded with a lengthy polished finish, making it delightfully drinkable" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

This is a Pinot Noir with wonderful red cherry, spices, bramble fruit and lifted florals.

The 2020 harvest produced some spectacular results with top quality fruit and what will be an outstanding vintage, despite a nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19. Marlborough saw a mild start to the growing season, with the soil retaining a good level of moisture after a fairly dry winter period. Budburst was nice and even; slightly reduced number of Pinot Noir bunches meant more concentrated flavours in the fruit. The long, slow late summer ripening conditions allowed excellent flavour and colour development, delivering clean ripe fruit in excellent condition.

Once at the winery, fruit was crushed and cold soaked for four to six days. Fermentation on skins occurred for 16 to 29 days. The winemaking team treat ferments gently to avoid over-extraction to produce a soft gentle Pinot Noir. Yeasts that can handle high fermentation temperatures are chosen, this helps to stabilise colour as much as possible and to heighten flavours in the wine. The aim is to extract as much colour as possible but not extract too much tannin, a balancing act our winemakers have mastered. The wine was aged on good quality clean lees in French oak for six months to help build natural sweetness and texture.

Food Pairing: Crispy five spice scented, peking duck pancakes, hoison sauce and asian greens.