Saint Clair Omaka Reserve Pinot Noir 2021

Full bodied and complex displaying flavours of black cherry and olive brine with a fine grained tannin structure. The finish is long and savoury, incorporating subtle graphite characters and toasty oak.

Ageing potential: This wine is drinking beautifully now or with careful cellaring will mature into a more complex wine that can be enjoyed for the next 8 to 10 years or beyond.

Food Match: Perfectly matched with herb crusted rack of lamb served with green bean and olive salad and new season potatoes.

The fruit was harvested when it had reached full physiological ripeness and maximum flavour maturity. At the winery the fruit was held cold for five days prior to fermentation to help extract maximum flavour and to enhance colour stability.

6 per cent whole cluster bunches were added to the fermentation to add a stems component and another layer of complexity. Specially selected cultured yeast were used to carry out the primary alcoholic fermentation, during which the fermenting must was hand plunged up to six times daily at the peak of fermentation. At dryness the wine was pressed, then racked off gross lees to a mixture of 10 per cent new French oak and older seasoned 225 litre oak barriques.

During maturation the barrels were regularly tasted until the right balance was achieved (ten months). During this time in oak, the young wine completed malolactic fermentation. The wine was then carefully extracted from oak, blended and prepared for bottling.