Home Fields Pinot Noir 2022

Single-vineyard Pinot Noir.

Premium Wairarapa-style Pinot Noir - structured and savoury with liquorice and dark fruit characteristics. A complex and silky full finish on the palate.

Full dark ruby in colour. Tannins are assertive and complementary. Acidity is completes a robust overall structure and finish. Sumptuous and savorable.

100 percent hand-harvested. Pinot Noir clones UCD5, Abel & 10/5 .

Weather conditions were uncharacteristic for a cool climate region renowned for blistering dry summers, huge diurnal range, high winds & cold but bright winters. "Old wood" farmers confirmed the conditions were without precedent in living memory.

Flowering was excellent. Over quickly. Unaffected by wind or frost, meaning high yields & good bunch architecture. That was good. Everything that followed was less great. Constant wet conditions across the season, harsh & frequent frost, snow! over-vigorous canopy growth & labour scarcity.

Canopy & vineyard floor growth was beyond vigorous. Leaf removal started before flowering & continued right up to harvest. This reflected the heightened disease risk as well as constant new growth appearing into the autumn. It is my preferred approach to open up the fruit zone early but this was easily three times the work of previous seasons.

Towards harvest, bunches set & hung really well. Berry size was generally small. Some dropping of bunches occurred. This was to remove bird-strike affected bunches, which are a vector for botrytis. Remarkably, few bunches were sacrificed & the eventual harvested fruit was beautifully clean.