2009 Mountford Estate Village Pinot Noir

100% Pinot Noir made under the careful guidance of blind winemaker CP Lin. Hand-harvested early to mid April 2009 into small picking bins clone by clone. Fruit was chilled for two nights at 4°C for cold maceration. Destemmed into 1.8-tonne open-top fermenters without crushing and naturally warmed to 12°C over 3-4 days. Inoculated with cultured yeast and fermented for 7-10 days with three hand-plungings per day. Post ferment maceration for 3-5 days, then the free run and press run were separately aged in French oak barrels for 20 months. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Only 600 cases were produced. TA 4.5 g/l. Palish garnet. Wonderfully fragrant red fruit without Marlborough's sweetness. On the palate, I find the oak is a little intrusive, even hard, but I think it needs another year or two in bottle to reach full integration. Fine but still quite firm tannins. Much more burgundy than South Island. (JH)