Black Estate Home Waipara Pinot Noir 2021

Black Estate Home Waipara Pinot Noir 2021French oak Dark plum Cinnamon Bright finish Deep ruby hue. Aromas of dark plum, spice, black olive, woody herbs, cinnamon, violets and earth. The palate has density and weight typical of Pinot Noirs from the Home vineyard with emerging velvet fruit flavours and a persistent bright mineral finish. This is an unfiltered wine with small amounts of sediment. Please allow the bottle to stand and settle before pouring. Decanting will allow maximum

• French oak
• Dark plum
• Cinnamon
• Bright finish

Deep ruby hue. Aromas of dark plum, spice, black olive, woody herbs, cinnamon, violets and earth. The palate has density and weight typical of Pinot Noirs from the Home vineyard with emerging velvet fruit flavours and a persistent bright mineral finish. This is an unfiltered wine with small amounts of sediment. Please allow the bottle to stand and settle before pouring. Decanting will allow maximum expression of aroma and purity of fruit to emerge. Drink now to 2031.

This Black Estate Home Pinot Noir was grown on our Home Vineyard located 6 kilometres north east of the Waipara Junction, in the Omihi sub-district of Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. This is a north facing sedimentary clay fan on a gentle hill side slope. The soils are mainly Awapuni clay with calcium carbonate deposits. The un-grafted Pinot Noir vines are predominantly 10-5 clone and were planted in 1994 at a vine density of 1841 vines per hectare. The new planting completed in 2011 has 2.0ha planted at 6177 vine/ha with 115, 667, 828, 943, Abel, and UCD5 clones. Organic and biodynamic farming practices have been used since 2010. Home Vineyard became fully certified organic with BioGro in March 2017.

Winter and early spring rainfalls meant vines started the growing season in spring with adequate soil moisture. Very cold night time temperatures in late September and mid October caused significant frost damage across many vineyards in North Canterbury. Once vineyards rebounded rapid vegetative growth kept vineyard teams busy with shoot thinning, undervine cultivation, and organic spray rounds with short intervals. Weather at flowering was unfavourable with rain and cool temperatures lowering fruit set and further reducing potential yield. Warm dry conditions in January and February slowed vegetative growth. Small bunches ripened fast with accelerated sugar accumulation leading to an early start to harvest. Harvest was done by hand and fruit was ripe and clean with low disease pressure. Harvest across our three vineyards was rapid and completed in settled weather resulting in high quality fruit with good ripeness and bright acidity.

Hand harvested on March 10 and 15 2021 Harvest 3.9 Ton Yield = 0.9 - 1.2kg/vine Brix 23.5 TA 6.6-8.4 g/ L. MA 2.6g/L pH 3.26 - 3.31.

Hand harvested fruit was 66% de-stemmed without crushing giving an average of 75% whole berry. Inoculated using vineyard derived yeast the wine fermented for 28 days in 2.0 to 2.5 ton open top fermenters. The vats were plunged using hand and foot one to two times per day during the peak of ferment. Each vat was pressed individually using a basket press. The wines were matured in 228L and 500L French Barrels for 12 months, 0% were new. The wine was then racked from barrel, blended and settled in tank for 5 months and then bottled without fining or filtration. 40 ppm Sulphites added.