Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard Long Gully Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2017
Tasting Notes
Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir is handcrafted in very limited quantities and only released in outstanding vintages. This wine is a bright medium-purple colour with a crimson hue. Aromas of dark blackberry, with a wild herb complexity and engaging floral notes. Supple dense berries and cherries dominate onto the palate, finishing strongly with fine-grained tannins and spicy dark berry fruit. Lovely flow.
CELLARING POTENTIAL
Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir is expected to age beautifully for 10-15 years with proper cellaring.
Vintage Notes
VINTAGE 2017
Another very interesting vintage. After a generally dry, warm 2016 growing season, 2017 countered with cooler, wetter weather. Though Spring was notably warm and prompted an early bud-burst, cool temperatures carried through late December, impacting flowering and resulting in lower than average fruit yields.
WINEMAKING CONSIDERATIONS
The fruit for this wine was harvested from our Long Gully vineyard on the 7th and 13th of April. One third of the grapes were destemmed with 30% whole clusters retained, the balance was fully destemmed. The ferments typically underwent a period of 8 days pre-fermentation maceration at about 9C. Fermentation took a period of 7-9 days with a maximum temperature of 30C; the wine sat on skins for a further 8 to 10 days until it tasted in harmony. The wine was punched down a maximum of once daily right through its maceration on skins. The wine was settled overnight after pressing, and racked to barrel for 14 months. The wine underwent natural malolactic fermentation in the spring and was racked out of barrel in late July. The wine was filtered but not fined before bottling in November 2018.
Alc. 14.2% TA 4.5 g/L pH 3.78 Residual Sugar < 1 g/L
Accolades & Awards
96 points, James Suckling Tasting Report 2019
95 Points & 5 Stars, Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review 2023
