Palate: Dried herb, touch of black pepper, graphite, chewy texture balanced by long, very fine grain slightly dusty tannin.
Vinification: The 2019 growing season and harvest will go down as one of the driest we have seen with no rain between Christmas and early March. Our vineyards had mixed fortunes during flowering which resulted in some varieties having low berry numbers and small crops. The silver lining of these lower crops was clean fruit with very good colour, fruit intensity, texture and mouthfeel. Fruit sourced from the Brookby vineyard in the Omaka Valley (75%), the Elevation Vineyard in the Waihopai Valley (14%), and the Patriarch Vineyard in the Upper Wairau (11%). The fruit was machine harvested using gentle, selective harvest technology which destems in the vineyard while retaining most of the fruit as whole berries.
Winemaking Philosophy: all our vineyards are certified sustainable, with viticulturists bent on an organic and natural approach where possible. Dovetailing that nicely are our winemakers’ low intervention approach to their crafting of the grapes.