• French oak
• Violet & spices
• Blue & black fruit
• Long finish

"Bright crimson in colour, a classic Central Otago nose from a cooler year. Delicate violet florals and warm baking spices mix in to an inviting aroma. A cascade of blue and black fruit with warm earthy and gentle spices with a long finish" Matt Dicey, Winemaker

The grapes for this wine come from their Cromwell basin vineyards managed by their viticultural team.

2020 sets a new benchmark for tricky seasons. A wet, cold and windy spring introduced their growing season, these conditions continued through their key flowering and fruit set periods in October and December - impacting their potential yields for the season. Disturbed weather patterns continued right through January, and whilst the weather settled in February it was not its usual scorching self. They experienced cool periods through both veraison and ripening; delaying and then slowing down their harvest. Fruit condition was superb with no disease pressure, and the small berries were bursting with flavour.

The majority of the fruit was destemmed to enhance the natural fruit characters of Pinot Noir from the Cromwell Basin. A small proportion was retained as whole cluster, with the aim of building texture and structure. The grapes stayed in the fermenter on average for a total of 19-21 days, with temperatures peaking at 28 - 30°C. The wine was plunged once daily both during pre-fermentation and during fermentation. Post-fermentation the wine was left to extract with no further punch downs. When the wine tasted in harmony it was pressed off to French oak where it resided on lees for 10 months. It underwent malolactic fermentation during early spring, was racked out of barrel in early-summer with filtration, but no fining, prior to bottling.