Middle Earth Nelson Pinot Noir 2020

Middle Earth Nelson Pinot Noir 2020French oak Black cherry & lum Earthy hints Velvet smooth tannins An opaque ruby colour announces the darker fruits to be found in this wine. Soft yet balanced acidity underpinning the perfume and flavours of black cherry and plum. Medium to full bodied the palate is plush with tannins that are velvet smooth. The finish leaves a lasting impression that is gently warming and just a little earthy. The fruit for this wine consists of a mix of Pinot Noir

• French oak
• Black cherry & lum
• Earthy hints
• Velvet smooth tannins

An opaque ruby colour announces the darker fruits to be found in this wine. Soft yet balanced acidity underpinning the perfume and flavours of black cherry and plum. Medium to full bodied the palate is plush with tannins that are velvet smooth. The finish leaves a lasting impression that is gently warming and just a little earthy.

The fruit for this wine consists of a mix of Pinot Noir Clones. Listed in descending order these are – Pommard Clone 5, Dijon clones 777, 115 and the Swiss selection 10/5. This clonal material brings different attributes such as aroma and structure to the wine.

Once picked the clonal parcels were destemmed with minimal crushing of the berries, to encourage some carbonique fermentation characters. Each must was held cool for a minimum of 5 days with the aim of extracting colour, flavour and aroma precursors from the skins. This pre-ferment soak also enabling the extraction of fine skin tannins. Fermentation was then carried out using a selection of Burgundian yeast strains. Once the wine was dry and the youthful tannins began to relax, the parcels were pressed off skins and settled overnight. They were then racked along with only the fine yeast lees, to a portion of new and seasoned Tonneleir Rousseau Hogs Heads and the remainder to tank with French oak staves. The fine yeast lees were stirred through the wines once or twice during the winter adding volume to the palate and helping to protect the un-sulphured wine from oxidation. Indigenous bacteria completed malolactic fermentation as soon as Spring began to warm the cellar, this secondary ferment working its magic to soften the acid profile. Some 10 months post-harvest the individual wines were blended and the cuvee only lightly filtered in preparation for an early February 2021 bottling.