Black Estate Home Waipara Pinot Noir 2016

Black Estate Home Waipara Pinot Noir 2016"Moderately deep garnet red colour, a little lighter on the edge. The nose is softly full and voluminous with ethereal red berry fruit aromas along with savoury dark and dried herbs, some earth and undergrowth along with red floral and game elements providing a harmonious array of complexing aromatics. Medium bodied, the palate has a rich and softly concentrated but densely packed heart of luscious and succulent, savoury dark red berry fruits along

"Moderately deep garnet-red colour, a little lighter on the edge. The nose is softly full and voluminous with ethereal red berry fruit aromas along with savoury dark and dried herbs, some earth and undergrowth along with red floral and game elements providing a harmonious array of complexing aromatics. Medium-bodied, the palate has a rich and softly concentrated but densely packed heart of luscious and succulent, savoury dark-red berry fruits along with complexing flavours of dried herbs, a little undergrowth and earth. The fruit is underlined by a fine, tight tannin structure with soft, integrated acidity. The flavours carry to a long, lingering, sweet and savoury finish. This is a rich and sweetly lush Pinot Noir with a deep core of savoury dark-red berry fruits along with herbs, undergrowth and earth on a fine, firm-textured palate. Match with wild duck and pork dishes over the next 5-6 years. Fruit from the ‘Home’ vineyard, from clone 10/5 planted in 1994, and clones 115, 667, 828, 943, Abel and 5, planted in 2011, hand-picked and 97% destemmed to give 75% whole berries, indigenous yeast fermented to 12.5% alc., the wine spending 58 days on skins and aged 12 months in seasoned 228 L French oak barrels, and aged a further 5 months in tank" Raymond Chan, May 2018

Deep ruby red in the glass. Perfumed, alluring open and fresh berry fruits, earth, custard, sandalwood and lead. Supple sensual fruit on the palate with supporting tannin. Soft but structural, crisp and mineral. Salivating. Drink now to 2025

This Black Estate Home Pinot Noir was grown on Black Estate's 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.

A dry mild winter meant a continuation of the drought in the north Canterbury region. Normally green hills were pale and drying offearly except for early green shoots in hillside vineyards. Late spring frosts lowered yields in some vineyards and added to the stress on the vines as canopies were established. Un- seasonally heavy rainfall in January provided some reprieve from the drought and the vines around the valley sprung to life pushing young shoot tips and completing canopy establishment. Dry conditions returned and continued into late Autumn allowing gradual and even ripening of fruit with very little disease pressure. Despite the early season challenges vintage 2016 ended with balanced, ripe, and disease free fruit making harvest.

Hand harvested fruit was 97% de-stemmed without crushing giving an average of 75% whole berry. Inoculated using vineyard derived yeast the wine fermented for 28 days in 0.5 to 2.5 ton open top fermenters. The vats were plunged using hand and foot two times per day during the peak of ferment. Each vat was pressed individually using a basket press. The wines were matured in 228L 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.

Food Pairing: Pair with duck or other game birds or a casserole.