WINE: 2004 MONTALTO PINOT NOIR The 2004 is a worthy successor to the highly acclaimed release from 2003, having recently been rated 93/100 by James Halliday. Again, the sunny and mild autumn ripened the larger yielding vintage with ease and has brought with it a vibrancy and fruit lift not seen in the more savoury styles of the previous super low yielding years of 2002 and 2003. Bright cherry red in colour with a fantastically complex bouquet with red cherries, rhubarb and wild berries leading to a tantalizingly rich palate which melds an array of deep dark fruits, fine grained tannins and a compact structure which will provide for a very rewarding cellared wine. Vintage
A long dry autumn ensured perfect ripening conditions in each of our Pinot blocks. The north-facing Montalto block fared particularly well gaining excellent sunlight exposure and great flavour development and ripe tannins. Yields for the Montalto Pinot were 1.75 tonnes per acre. Fermentation
The grapes were hand harvested then de-stemmed and crushed on arrival at the winery. The crush was directed into open top fermentors and inoculated with cultured yeast. The assist in flavour and phenolic extraction, the fruit was fermented hot at 32 degrees over 7 days, throughout, the skins were kept moist by hand plunging twice a day. After ferment the wine was pressed off into tank to settle for 2 days. It was then transferred into approximately equal proportions of new, one, two and three year old French oak barrels, from the cooperage of Seguin Moreau, Taransaud, and Dargaud & Jaegle tight grain oak for maturation before blending and bottling in March 2005. Cellaring
This wine is will be a real treat in the first few years of its life with bright red fruit characters underpinned by an earthy, savory edge. However, we believe this release will benefit from some years in the cellar with tannin and oak becoming more integrated from which a fuller and richer mouthfeel will emerge. Recommend 4 - 7 years. Technical Information
Ordering
To place an order for this wine, please download our wine order form. (PDF format - requires Acrobat Reader)
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