Mystery Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2024 (01)

Description

Cherry, Plum, Spice

Black Market Mystery Wines™ are simply wines we love, with the branding hidden and revealed only when it arrives at your door!

"A firm pinot noir with sliced-strawberry, cedar and cranberry aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied with fine tannins and a caressing finish. Very well-crafted indeed. Drink now or hold" James Suckling 

On the nose violets and forest berry fruit are supported with smoke and spice aromas. The supple palate is filled with dark cherry, plum and earth flavours supported by fine spicy tannins. 

2024 was an outstanding vintage for Wairarapa Pinot Noir. The cool dry spring set a small crop of concentrated bunches. The summer stayed very dry with good diurnal temperature variation, giving small bunches of intensely coloured fruit. The weather remained clear through the leisurely harvest period, allowing each block to be harvested at optimal ripeness.The fruit was harvested by clonal selection and  placed in small open top fermenters, some whole bunch and some destemmed. Fermentation occurred with a combination of gentle plunging and pump-overs to aid extraction. After an average of 20 days the fermenters were pressed off and run to 50% new French oak barrels where malolactic fermentation occurred. After 14 months in barrel the blend was assembled, 62.5% Abel clone,18.75% Clone 5, 12.5% Clone 114 and 6.25% clone 777. The blend then rested in tank to harmonize before bottling.

Fruit for this wine is from our home vineyard, a raised gravel ridge outside the original home of New Zealand Pinot Noir, Masterton. This site is in the rain shadow of the Tararua ranges to the West and Mount Bruce to the North, creating an exceptional vineyard climate. The sunny, cool ,dry growing season and naturally low yields are perfect for ripening Pinot Noir. For this wine we target small blocks for extra fruit thinning and canopy management to maximise quality. 

Food Pairing: Excellent with a range of foods from smoked salmon, roast lamb, to vineyard hare baked in grape juice infused lard