Blue Earth 2019 Pinot Noir
NZD $69.00 inc GST
A wine made to go with good food. Dark red berry fruits, with hints of spice. Velvety soft tannins. A succulent and vibrant Pinot Noir. We have cellared it for you so it is ready to drink now, but it will get even more interesting if you put a few away in your cellar for later.
Description
This beautiful Pinot Noir possesses layers and elegance with a silky tannin framework and an enticing, savoury finish. Match with truffle risotto and roasted pigeon over the next 8+ years.
19+/20 pts (96 pts)
Candice Chow – Raymond Chan Wine Reviews (read full review here)
Blue Earth Estate Pinot Noir 2019
TASTING NOTES
Aromas of ripe dark berry fruits dominate the nose with hints of spice and mocha notes in the background add complexity. Rich yet soft tannins form the backbone of this succulent and vibrant Pinot Noir.
Spice flavours come through on the mid palate along with ripe dark cherry flavours and underlying savoury notes. This is a superbly balanced, elegant and weighted Pinot capable of ageing for up to ten years.
THE VINEYARD
This family owned and operated vineyard is on an old river terrace at the south end of Te Muna Valley. The stony soils with an underlay of limestone, a gentle north facing slope and exposure to westerly winds produce low volume crops of high intensity.
VINIFICATION
All fruit was carefully hand-picked over two vineyard passes. In the winery we destemmed all fruit and fermented in 3T open top tanks. The wine spent between 21 and 23 days on skins including punching down by hand once a day, before being pressed to French oak barrels. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation in barrel and remained on its lees for ten months before racking, blending and bottling.
Indigenous yeasts are used which add to the wine’s complexity in addition to traditional methods of punching down the ferments by hand.
THE SEASON
A season of two halves. Spring was wet and cool with much of the region suffering some damage from a late frost on the morning of 19th October. The rains came in late November and right through to Xmas making it one of our wettest Springs on record.
From January onwards the classic Wairarapa summer kicked in with long warm cloudless days being the norm. Lots of sunshine plus plenty of soil moisture gave us lots of vineyard canopy growth to deal with right through the second half of the season.
One of our earliest harvest starts with picking commencing on 31st March.
On average crop levels were down but concentration up with the wines looking structured, rich with lovely depth of flavour.
Information
REGION: Martinborough
OAK MATURATION: 10 Month in French Oak – 18% new
VINEYARD BLOCK: 950 White Rock Rd
CLONE: Abel/ 115/ 5/ 114
HARVEST DATE: 31st and 7th April 2019
HARVEST ANALYSIS: 23.53 – 24.1 Brix 3.38 – 3.43 pH 6.10 –6.80 g/L TA
BOTTLING DATE: 4th March 2020
WINE ANALYSIS: 3.55 pH 5.50 g/L TA 14.0% Alc RS – Dry