Tohu Awatere Valley Pinot Noir 2017

A deep ruby hue in the glass, this Awatere Valley Pinot Noir displays aromatic layers of cherry, plum and bright red fruit notes with hints of wild thyme. The palate is richly textured with flavours of red and dark fruit, spice and integrated French oak underpinned by nuances of dry herbs and savoury notes. Mid-weight on the palate, this wine is balanced with refined silky tannins that lead to a long and elegant finish.

Grapes for this wine are handpicked at optimal ripeness before being transported back to the winery for processing. Once at the winery the fruit is gently destemmed and
then lightly crushed using state of the art processing equipment. Batch fermented according to block and clone in small open top fermenters, the must undergoes a cold
soak lasting around 7 days before being warmed and inoculated either with selected
yeasts or left to undergo a ‘wild’ ferment using indigenous yeasts found naturally on the
grapes. Once fermentation is complete the wine undergoes a short period of postfermentation maturation on skins before being pressed directly to a combination of
old and new French barriques. These barrels are kept cool in a temperature-controlled
cellar over the winter months, before being warming in spring, allowing the wine to
undergo a secondary malo-lactic fermentation. Barrels are carefully monitored over
this period and once the malolactic fermentation is determined to be 100% complete
the final blend is carefully put together before being filtered and bottled in early March.