Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard Mansons Farm Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2018
Tasting Notes
Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard Mansons Farm Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2018 is hand crafted in very limited quantities. The wine has a crimson hue and a bouquet of dark blackberry with a touch of sweet brown spice and oak. Mocha notes on the palate add detail prior to the arrival of savoury berry and floral notes driving the finish. A dark, floral and savoury Central Otago Pinot Noir.
CELLARING POTENTIAL
Mt. Difficulty Mansons Farm Pinot Noir will improve for 10 - 15 years given optimal cellaring conditions.
Vintage Notes
VINTAGE 2018
One for the record books, and a vintage of two halves. There was exceptional warmth from September through to late January, before cooling off through February and Autumn. With the warm start we got underway early; this warm settled weather continued through flowering and fruit set. The potential crop was well set, yet small as a result of the cool December in 2016. The vineyards really started to dry out through December and January, with irrigation struggling. With the arrival of February, temperatures plummeted to below average and rainfall was well above average. These cool and wetter-than-average conditions persisted right through harvest. Disease pressure remained low, even with the elevated rainfall, through the finish of the season. The cool, late Summer/Autumn period enabled berry ripening through a cooler period providing ripe fresh characters.
WINEMAKING CONSIDERATIONS
We harvested the Pinot Noir in two picks on the 21st and the 23rd March; in excellent condition. There is a selection of Dijon clones planted on the vineyard and represented in this wine. Where we were able to, we co-fermented all these clonal lots to enhance early integration. One of the fermentors was fully destemmed, whilst we retained 25% whole cluster in the other. This was done to accurately reflect the unique characteristics of the site. The wine underwent a 8 day cold soak and was hand plunged once daily; this was followed by a 8 day natural fermentation with temperature peaking at 29°C during which time the ferment was plunged once daily. In total, the wine stayed on skins for 24 days prior to pressing, overnight settling and then went to barrel for 15 months. The wine went through malolactic fermentation in the spring, was racked to tank the following autumn and bottled, unfiltered and unfined, in November.
Alc. 14.5% T/A 5 gL pH 3.83 Residual Sugar 1 gL/1
Accolades & Awards
95 Points, James Suckling NZ Tasting Report 2021
