Black Estate Home Pinot Noir 2018

Accolades

Black Estate Home Pinot Noir 2018:

Cameron Douglas MS: 94/100. A complex and enticing bouquet that expresses immediately a sense of place through the detail in the aromas of limestone-like soil, dried herb, a savoury whole bunch and ripe fruits. Then tea and spices. On the palate - poised and tense with fine to moderate tannins, medium+ acidity and flavours of wild berries and flowers, raspberry and cherry, tea then dried herb. Not yet in balance - give it time in your cellar to achieve this. Best drinking from early 2022 through 2026+.

Christina Pickard, Wine Enthusiast (USA): 94/100. Nicholas Brown and Penelope Naish are part of the new wave of talent in North Canterbury, making organically farmed wines with minimal intervention. There's a lovely vibrancy of color to this vintage of Pinot, and a raw energy. Oodles of crunchy fresh strawberry notes are backed by cinnamon, clove, flower stalks and stone. The sappy tannins have a surprising bite but an easy, natural presence rather than being oak-driven. There's beautiful fruit purity and an overall cool climate, unadulterated vibe.

Tasting Note

Compelling fresh and complex aromas of wild forest berrys, wild rose petal, and humid earth. Silky mouth coating tannins that gradually melt to reveal rich berry fruits, red current, and spice. The balance gives a clear impression of the soft, fertile and highly mineralised sedimentary clay soils of the Home Vineyard. This is an unfiltered wine with small amounts of sediment. Please allow the bottle to stand and settle before pouring. Decanting will allow maximum expression of aroma and purity of fruit to emerge.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: Red wine from New Zealand

Grape varial: Pinot Noir

Alcohol: 12.0% vol

Food match: This wine is versatile with food and will pair well with savoury lamb, venison and game dishes, as well as fish dishes such as grilled salmon or tuna. A quintessential match for a vegetarian option is grilled field mushrooms.

Vineyard: Home Vineyard, Waipara Valley, New Zealand. This is a north facing sedimentary clay fan on a gentle hill side slope. The soils are mainly Awapuni clay with calcium carbonate deposits. The un-grafted Pinot Noir vines were planted in 1994 at a vine density of 1841 vines per hectare. The new planting completed in 2011 has 2.0ha planted at 6177 vine/ha.

Winemaking: Hand harvested fruit was 98% de-stemmed without crushing giving an average of 70% whole berry. Inoculated using vineyard derived yeast the wine fermented for 28 days in 0.5 to 2.5 ton open top fermenters. The vats were plunged using hand and foot two times per day during the peak of ferment. Each vat was pressed individually using a basket press. The wines were matured in 228L French Barrels for 12 months, 0% were new. The wine was then racked from barrel, blended and settled in tank for 6 months and then bottled without fining or filtration. Sulphites added.

Residual sugar: 0.1 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulfites

Cellaring potential: until 2025

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: Black Estate Wines, 614 Omihi Road, Waipara 7483, New Zealand