Rippon 'Rippon' Central Otago Pinot Noir 2016

Description

"Extremely youthful bouquet of Pinot Noir with aromas and scents of spice and earth, red fruits and crushed flowers, tea and old rose. Equally youthful on the palate with a vibrant and energy filled flavour profile – crushed rocks, dark red berry fruits, oak spice and whispers of smoke, organic and adventurous. Dry and lengthy, savoury, dried herb offset with a core of red berry fruit flavours. Youthful textures from tannins and acidity. A delicious wine but also a very young wine" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Apr 2019

Rippon, the western board of Roy's Bay, Lake Wanaka. Rippon's north-facing escarpment forms the meeting point of terminal moraines and coarse gravels; all based in schist. Rippon, a wine issued from all of the fully developed Pinot Noir vines, is considered the farm voice of this distinct parcel of land.

Picked by hand into small, 10kg cases allowing the fruit to arrive at the winery's sorting table undamaged and intact. This wine represents many small parcels of different clones, vine ages and micro-sites within a single Vineyard: Rippon. They were picked and fermented separately in 13, 2-tonne stainless-steel fermenters.

Each parcel is fermented and matured apart before blending. The winery's resident yeast population (non-inoculated) started fermenting on the 7th-9thth day of cuvaison. The ferments reached maximum temperatures of 15-30 Celsius.

12 months of new (24%) to 4 year old French oak barrels. The malolactic fermentation went through unaided (non-inoculated) in springtime; it was then racked back into barrel and allowed a second winter in barrel before being run directly into bottle without filtering or fining.

Food Pairing: Pair with Duck, Goose and Game Birds