Misha's Vineyard Cantata Pinot Noir 2020

"Dark ruby-red with expressive aromas of violets, roses and cherries, the palate has plum and raspberry notes with hints of chocolate and vanilla, and an elegant fresh finish." Olly Masters (Winemaker)

Misha's Vineyard Wines - Central Otago

Misha's Vineyard - a 57-hectare single-vineyard estate of which 26 hectares are planted in Pinot Noir and aromatic whites. The vineyard is located in the Bendigo sub-region of Central Otago. Our first priority with the vineyard is careful stewardship of this spectacular land by managing our natural resources with respect. The vineyard is farmed according to the strict regime of sustainable farming practices and we ensure that vine health is never ever compromised. Our sun drenched north-west facing terraces give us one of the warmest sites in the region with the slopes and gullies providing excellent cool air drainage minimizing any risk of frost. Stretching from 210 to 350 metres above sea level, the plantings are predominantly on three levels of gently sloping terraces with just one steep face (the ‘ski slope’) where the rows run dramatically down to the lowest terrace poised just above Lake Dunstan.

The diversity in the soils, various levels and various meso-climates, different row orientations, as well as the range of clones planted, enable complexity in the wines that few single vineyards can match. Our land is also located within a zoned protection area due to the ‘outstanding landscape’ features including schist outcrops, steep escarpments, and gullies filled with native manuka and wild grasses.

Topography: Moderate to steep slopes, gently undulating fans and remnant terraces comprising wind-eroded and water dissected minor ridges and associated areas of loess accumulations. Soils range from outcrops of schist to very fine dusty sands; from extremely hard red boulders to pockets of sticky red clay; and from river gravels to coarse sands - even a small pocket of rich loam. These soils are very complex as they are essentially a combination of glacial outwash and river gravels but generally fit under the classification of Clyde sandy loam

The fruit was chilled overnight before destemming the next day, typically as 4 tonne lots in open top fermenters with a proportion of whole bunches (26%) retained. The crushed fruit was allowed to warm slowly for 5-7 days as the natural yeast ferment began to take place. Ferments were hand plunged 2-3 times per day. Cooling was used to ensure the ferments peaked below 32⁰C. The wine was then held warm (>20⁰C) post ferment to allow ongoing tannin integration. After an average of 24 days on skins the wines were then pressed to tank where they were settled for 1–2 days before being racked into 300 litre French oak barrels. The wine was inoculated for malolactic fermentation in spring and the final wine selection made by identifying ferments and barrels from all the wines post malolactic fermentation. Aiming to produce an earlier maturing style, the final selection received 14% new oak. The wine was racked once to tank prior to the 2020 vintage, returned to barrel then filtered prior to bottling on 19/20th Aug 2020.

2-8+ years