Estate Rose 2023
A blend of Pinot Meunier and Mariafeld grown and harvested at our Blue Rock Vineyard. The 2023 Rose label features the painting “Earthshine Visit” by Christchurch artist Kate McLeod and the original artwork hangs proudly in our cellardoor.
Winemaker Note
“Clear, bright appearance with a lively copper wire colour.
Lifted and bright aromatic floral notes, almost botanic sort of gin and tonic like scents, gentle raspberry and some pink grapefruit themes as well. In short, very much a summer by the pool feel.
Tastes like it smells! Really juicy and delicious with a lovely soft almost pillowy feel on the pallet; a tangy, grapefruity, energetic acidity keeps it all fresh and moreish. Lovely balance of flavours and feelings.”
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Pulling off a viable crop is a tricky task even when the weather is playing along. Some seasons the gods are not smiling though and it these seasons which feel like they are sent to test us!
The 21/22 spring was strongly influenced by a strong La Nina cycle which created frequent NE weather events across the East Coast of the North Island bringing high humidity and frequent rain events, conditions which are less than ideal for grape farming; Pinot Noir in particular. Our vineyard team did an amazing job in highly challenging conditions to get us to a great position in Mid – January where it looked like an excellent crop was on the cards, plus the crucial period of flowering in late November turned out to be near perfect for the task. It felt like the region as a whole had somehow pulled off a miracle!
The good vibes were short lived unfortunately when a rainfall event of biblical proportions struck the region in the 2nd week of February, around a third of annual rainfall fell over two days! Pinot Noir vineyards on the terrace, particularly those with Dijon clones were worst affected with widespread berry collapse followed by shrivel. Botrytis was also a very real threat and swept through many blocks making picking near impossible. Producers like us with sites off the terrace and a higher portion of the later ripening Pinot clones; Abel, 10/5 for example, certainly fared better. White varieties, because they are later ripening , were largely unaffected and quality across the board quality was high, ditto for Syrah.
Looking at the wines 6 -7 months on I am extremely happy with what I see. It is the most satisfying to produce great wines in difficult years.
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This seasons Rose was crafted primarily using the Pinot Meunier growing on our Blue RockVineyard. The fruit was whole bunch pressed to avoid over extraction.
Free run and light pressed juice was sent to a temperature controlled stainless steel tank forlong, cool fermentation.
The harder pressed, darker coloured juice was fermented in seasoned 500L oak.
Included in the final blend were two 500L barrels from our sparkling base wine stock.
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This is an outdoors summer wine! Late afternoon bbq fare and good company is what I’d recommend.
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pH 3.35
TA 7.0 g/L
RS 13 g/L
Alc 12.5 %
Bottled Oct 23
