From our Ben Morven and The Slopes vineyards in the Southern Valleys of the Wairau Valley, Marlborough. Dijon 777 and Abel clones.
VARIETY
100% Pinot Noir.
VINTAGE
Consistently above average warmth and sunshine hours through the early part of the growing season meant optimal conditions for vine growth and canopy development. This was followed by near perfect flowering conditions and an especially dry December. The key ripening months of January and February continued this blessed pattern of weather but added the hugely beneficial advent of cooler nights. This has ensured the preservation of vibrant fruit intensity.
WINEMAKING
Lovingly handpicked fruit was predominately de-stemmed without crushing into small, open-top fermentation tanks. Around 30% whole-clusters were included in the Ben Morven clone 777 fermentation, whilst the Slopes Abel clone was a 100% whole-cluster ferment. The retention of the bunch stem during ferment is a technique used to add a highly desirable spicy perfume and tannic complexity to the final assemblage. The grapes were cold soaked for around seven days, before the onset of rapid, warm fermentation. The ferments were hand plunged up to five times each day to keep the skins in intimate contact with the fermenting juice, then left to macerate for an additional week post–fermentation, ensuring optimum flavour development and tannin integration. The young wines were drained and pressed before being aged in French oak puncheons for 11 months, with malo-lactic fermentation occurring naturally as the weather warmed in early spring. The wine was bottled with minimal intervention, being unfined and unfiltered.
Wildberry and dark cherry fruit flavours mingle with a stem-derived forest floor savouriness that is subtly nuanced by the sweetness of smoky toasted oak. A velvety refined tannin structure gives way to a firmer long and dry spicy finish.
FOOD MATCHING
One of the most versatile wine styles to match with food, we encourage you to try the 2013 The Journey Pinot Noir with duck curry: Chinese roast duck cooked in a Nonya curry paste.
CELLARING POTENTIAL
In appropriate cellar conditions; this wine will grow in both intensity and complexity over the next 6 - 8 years and beyond.
ORIGIN
From our Ben Morven and The Slopes vineyards in the Southern Valleys of the Wairau Valley, Marlborough. Dijon 777 and Abel clones.
VARIETY
100% Pinot Noir.
VINTAGE
Consistently above average warmth and sunshine hours through the early part of the growing season meant optimal conditions for vine growth and canopy development. This was followed by near perfect flowering conditions and an especially dry December. The key ripening months of January and February continued this blessed pattern of weather but added the hugely beneficial advent of cooler nights. This has ensured the preservation of vibrant fruit intensity.
WINEMAKING
Lovingly handpicked fruit was predominately de-stemmed without crushing into small, open-top fermentation tanks. Around 30% whole-clusters were included in the Ben Morven clone 777 fermentation, whilst the Slopes Abel clone was a 100% whole-cluster ferment. The retention of the bunch stem during ferment is a technique used to add a highly desirable spicy perfume and tannic complexity to the final assemblage. The grapes were cold soaked for around seven days, before the onset of rapid, warm fermentation. The ferments were hand plunged up to five times each day to keep the skins in intimate contact with the fermenting juice, then left to macerate for an additional week post–fermentation, ensuring optimum flavour development and tannin integration. The young wines were drained and pressed before being aged in French oak puncheons for 11 months, with malo-lactic fermentation occurring naturally as the weather warmed in early spring. The wine was bottled with minimal intervention, being unfined and unfiltered.
ANALYSIS
Alcohol 14.5%
pH 5.57
Titratable Acidity 5.4g/L
Residual Sugar 1.0g/L
TASTING NOTE
Wildberry and dark cherry fruit flavours mingle with a stem-derived forest floor savouriness that is subtly nuanced by the sweetness of smoky toasted oak. A velvety refined tannin structure gives way to a firmer long and dry spicy finish.
FOOD MATCHING
One of the most versatile wine styles to match with food, we encourage you to try the 2013 The Journey Pinot Noir with duck curry: Chinese roast duck cooked in a Nonya curry paste.
CELLARING POTENTIAL
In appropriate cellar conditions; this wine will grow in both intensity and complexity over the next 6 - 8 years and beyond.
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