Saint Clair Omaka Reserve Pinot Noir 2022

Colour: Deep garnet. Aroma: Intensely aromatic with dark hedgerow fruit characters and toasted oak. Palate: Rich and dark displaying flavours of ripe blackberry, fresh blueberry and a hint of olive. The palate is full bodied and silky with a powdered tannin structure and a subtle note of toasty oak on the finish. 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.

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.