$15.00
87 Points (4 Star) - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, January 2023
Vineyard: Seifried Brightwater and Rabbit Island vineyards
Sugar at Harvest: 23.7°Brix
Date of Harvest: Mid - Late March 2022
pH of Wine: 3.69
T.A of Wine: 6.0g/L
Suitable for Vegans and Vegetarians
Our Brightwater vineyard is situated 15 km from the coast and is sheltered
from the south by the Richmond ranges. The ‘soil’ is a combination of rocks and boulders which is very hard on the farm equipment but vital for holding the warmth of Nelson’s sun.
Our Rabbit Island vineyards are situated on a wide river flat. The soil is made up of gravelly sandy loam, which marks the sites of Maori kumara beds (sweet potato) prior to European settlement in the early 1800’s. The Maori transferred and spread fine gravel and sand over the land to provide suitable soils for their kumara plantings. Scrub was burned to give ash and charcoal which increased soil fertility and gave characteristic topsoil. This fertility is now considerably reduced due to modern farming. The soils are however, very sandy and free draining, and the water table is relatively high ensuring adequate underground water.
The fruit in our 2022 Old Coach Road Nelson Pinot Noir comes from both our Brightwater and Rabbit Island vineyards where the Pinot Noir vines are well over thirty years of age and are showing great maturity and depth of flavour.
Parcels of fruit were picked incrementally in March 2022 at the peak of flavour and phenolic ripeness. The de-stemmed fruit had a brief cold maceration period before individual parcels were inoculated for fermentation. Throughout fermentation plunging occurred twice daily and was tapered off to once daily as the fermentation finished. The young wine was drained to new, one and two year old French barriques for malolactic fermentation and barrel ageing. The wine was stabilised and bottled in December 2022
The 2022 Old Coach Road Nelson Pinot Noir has delicate berry and plum flavours wrapped in gentle brambly savoury tannins. Notes of black tea leaf and raspberry linger on the palate. Enjoy!