Tasting Notes
Round, mouth filling flavours of plum and black cherry, pleasing weight and a long elegant finish. Oak integrates nicely with the fruit, and helps with the silky tannin structure.

Food Matching
Farm raised venison, mild game, duck and oily fish such as tuna and salmon.

Viticulture
Standard trellis with balanced pruning to two canes and vertical shoot positioning. Vines are trimmed closely, well tucked, and leaf plucking is minimal. Two vineyard passes of cluster thinning are used to reduce the crop, and ensure evenly ripened and balanced fruit.

Winemaking
The grapes were hand harvested and destemmed and lightly crushed to small open-top fermenters. A five-day cold soak was followed by a single pump-over to warm the must, and then a rapid fermentation. Fermentations were allowed to peak at 32 °C, and frequent hand-plunging to wet the cap was employed in the early stages of ferment.

The wine was drained off early at around 0°Brix, and the skins pressed very lightly. Heavy pressings were discarded. After a half day of settling to remove the grape sediment, yeasty wine was taken to barrel to complete alcoholic and malolactic fermentations. Occasional stirring of the lees during the maturation period added texture and gaminess to the wine.

Various batches were selected and blended for this wine, and then fined with a light dose of egg white in the traditional manner.

Winemaker: Simon Waghorn