Jules Taylor Pinot Noir

Description

”Vintage Notes The 2011- 2012 growing season was notable for its low temperatures and lack of intense sunshine that is normally a hallmark of the Marlborough summer. The scene was set when cool weather from the south throughout December 2011 seriously reduced the ability of the grape vine flowers to develop into berries. This reduced the potential harvest volume from the start of the season as many of the berries in each bunch never formed. This was probably a blessing in disguise as the vines had a reduced work load for the rest of the season, a good thing in such a cool vintage as it allowed the vines to put all their energy into ripening the fruit that did form and produced some incredible flavours. The season remained cool with higher than average rainfall through January to March. We luckily saw a break in this pattern in April and the final punch of heat at the tail end of summer was enough to fully ripen the fruit and allow us a small window in which to race through the harvest.Vinification The grapes for this Pinot Noir were grown by several producers passionate about the variety. The vineyards are located in Marlborough, in the Awatere, Brancott and Wairau Valleys. This wine has been made using a combination of traditional and modern winemaking techniques in order to incorporate the benefits of both approaches. The fruit was picked by hand over a 3 week period from late March as and when optimum ripeness was reached in each block. At the winery the fruit was destemmed into small open top fermenters and cold soaked for between 5 and 10 days. The wine was fermented completely using indigenous yeast and combined with hand plunging to ensure a good extraction of colour and tannins. Portions of the blend remained on skins post fermentation, while others were pressed at dryness before being transferred to a combination of French oak and stainless steel barrels for maturation.The wine was bottled in March of 2013. I have used screw caps to seal this wine to ensure it arrives with you looking just how I intended it to. As with all my wines this Pinot Noir always tastes best when consumed with great food & in the company of good friends.Colour Dark cherry redNose As I write this 5 months after bottling in March, this Pinot Noir is showing wild berry aromas with spicy notes layered over subtle hints of oak.Palate The wild fermentation along with extended lees maturation in barrel have added complexity and texture to the lovely bright red fruit characters found on the palate. This wine exhibits a great persistence of flavour. It will continue to drink well over the next three to five years.”- Jules Taylor