Blackenbrook
Family Reserve Pinot Noir 2021 750ml

Our Family Reserve Pinot Noir 2021 is beautifully intense with Black Doris plum, ripe cherries and a hint of wood-smoke elegantly framed by a perfect structure of peppery tannins.

In exceptional years we carefully select wines for our Family Reserve label.  We feel they just have that extra dimension and deserve a black label.

The Season

Mother Nature threw some hefty challenges at us with unsettled weather and gale-force wind in spring followed by a hail storm on Boxing Day. The humid and cold conditions in December made pollination difficult, resulting in small bunches with far less berries than usual.

 Luckily we dodged the worst of the hail storm in December and only the Pinot Noir suffered damage.  

 In January the weather finally turned and the sun kept smiling down on us right into harvest.  On 15 March we started picking beautifully healthy grapes of outstanding fruit concentration.  Just smaller than wished for volumes…

From Sustainable Production, accredited by Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand

Vineyard: 

Fruit: exclusively from our 20 year old Home Block

Soil: Moutere clay with a layer of sandy loam

Clones:  UCD5 & 6, 10/5, 22, 114, 115, 667, 777, Abel

Close planting: 3780 vines/ha

Extensive manual shoot thinning and leaf plucking

Hand-harvested on 21 March 2021, 23.3 Brix

Winery: 

Fruit di-stemmed before two weeks cold maceration at 2 degrees, fermentation on the skins, hand-plunged, gentle pressing, gravity-fed from press area to main winery, minimal pumping.

Aged for 12 months in French oak barrels in temperature controlled barrel room.

Bottled on 22 July 2022, 13.5% alcohol

Screw capsules, light-weight bottles to reduce

carbon footprint