2023 Selection Massale Central Otago Pinot Noir

Tasting note
A plush, red-fleshed Pinot Noir from Bendigo, Central Otago. Bright, crimson red in appearance with sweet, juicy red fruits on the palate. Blackberry, Morello cherry and cacao dominate. Soft and supple mouthfeel with a long, persistent finish. Youthful and approachable now, though will continue to gain complexity over the next 2-3 years.

Vintage and viticulture
The fruit was sourced a BioGro certified organic vineyard in Bendigo, Central Otago which has been certified since 2006. Soils are mostly silt overlaying clay and limestone, with fragments of schist. Mass selection of clones. The sloped and terraced vineyard meant harvest was spread nicely across a two-week window.  The 2023 growing season was brilliant one for Central Otago, with no major weather events and a long, slow ripening window all the way to harvest in April 2023. 

Vinification
100% Pinot Noir, the fruit was hand harvested, then refrigerated and transported to Marlborough for vinification. Majority whole bunch (approx. 75%), the wine was wild-fermented and macerated on its skins for 30 days. Pressed into aged French oak for maturation, after 9 months in oak the wine was racked into tank to settle further, sulphur added for the first and only time, and then the wine was bottled unfiltered and unfined in January 2024.

Technical
13% alcohol by volume
<0.1g/L residual sugar
3.54 pH
5.1g/L TA
0.7g/L VA
10ppm free SO2
19ppm total SO2

Selection Massale is now BioGro certified organic (#6430)