2003 The Last Chance Pinot Noir

About the wine

Single Vineyard Pinot

This Pinot Noir from our Alex Paddock, is named after the gold miners' watercourse that runs through the heart of the vineyard. Here in this small vineyard, perched in clean bright air on a promontory above the austere and beautiful Earnscleugh Valley, the grapes ripen slowly over a long season characterised by cold nights and warm long summer days. In the winery, as in the vineyard, the wine is made by hand, using traditional methods, and aged in small French oak barriques. The result is a classic Central Otago Pinot; elegant and voluptuous, with clean vivid fruit, fragrant and delicate aromatics and a seductive richness and texture.

Tasting Notes

Spicy, thyme, Doris plum with chargrilled pepper aromatics. This wine has a velvety texture with lots of elegance and a soft lingering finish. This wine will reward medium to long cellaring.

Vintage and Harvest Notes: After a mild winter and relatively early spring, the weather changed to cooler and a little wetter than normal. The cool weather slowed the advent of flowering, which was delayed until around December 10th. Then kinder weather prevailed and produced a solid flowering.

Some real Central Otago sunshine finally kicked in at the start of January and turned the season around. We experienced some long sustained warm periods punctuated by short, very cold periods, and many light frosts towards the end of the season. This excellent weather helped to lift the flavour profile and colour of the berries.

Harvesting at Alexandra occurred on April 23-25, 2003.

Winemakers Notes: When the vines reached full production and became more in harmony with their surroundings, the fruit was picked in excellent condition and with wonderful flavour profiles. Four different fermentation's were made with the fruit picked primarily by clonal difference. Approximately 20% whole bunch fermentation was undertaken. All ferments started with natural yeast strains after 7 days of cold soak. Average fermentation was 25 days. 25% was then placed into new French oak, the other 75% was placed into older french oak casks. Bottled 7th April 2004.

Drink: 2005 – 2009

Vineyard: Stephen and Jim Moffitt. Winemaker: Dean Shaw