Auntsfield 'Heritage' Pinot Noir 2013

COLOUR: Deep ruby, very intense . AROMA: Savoury and complex aromas of exotic spices, dark berry fruits and floral notes. Hints of cocoa and leather.

PALATE: The palate is immensely dense and concentrated with luscious black fruit flavours integrating with oak spice. The wine has an intense and yet silky fine tannin structure, great length and many years of aging potential.

The Southern Valleys is a sub region within Marlborough where the climate is cooler and drier. With its mix of high mineral Greywacke rock and old low fertility Loess clay soils, the Southern Valleys is regarded for its riper styles of wine with more structure, texture and minerality.

This wine is made with a sense of place. The steep clay hillsides at Auntsfield give us fruit with great density, complexity and tannin structure. Winemaking is carried out with a desire to reveal these characters in the wine. The fruit is hand harvested and gravity fed into open top oak vessels with a proportion of fruit being whole bunch fermented. These are then hand plunged (with our bare hands) once fermentation begins. The wine is kept on skins for an extended period following fermentation before being aged in oak for 18 months.