Wither Hills Pinot Noir 2010 Wairau Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand 12.99
100% Pinot Noir from 3 main sources: the two signature vineyards Taylor River and Benmorven situated behind the winery at the foot of the
Wither Hills with the remainder from the Southern Valley, Marlborough’s subregion. 2010 was an outstanding vintage, an unseasonally cool
December followed by warm weather during vintage ensured perfect ripening. The fruit from each site was hand-harvested and kept in small
individual batches throughout fermentation. Grapes were cold soaked in open top stainless steel square fermenters, inoculated with selected
and wild yeasts and fermented at up to 30°C for 5 - 10 days, with cap-plunging 3 times per day. Basket pressed and matured in French oak
barriques (35% new, 20% 1 year old and the remainder 2 - 6 years) for 14 months with full malo. The final wine was egg white fined and filtered
before bottling. Winemaker Ben Glover. Alc 13.5%, TA 6.8g/l, pH 3.4, RS 0g/l. Waitrose Wine Direct and 250 branches.

Beautiful pinot nose. Quite sweet and fruity, but with juicy acidity, so it doesn’t finish sweet.

Craggy Range Te Muna Road Pinot Noir 2009 Martinborough, New Zealand 19.99
100% Pinot Noir planted on upper Martinborough Terrace with unique rock and soil formation. The 7th vintage, 2009 will be
remembered for a dry warm summer with a cool conclusion. The best clusters were left at thinning time on densely planted vines with
low-vigour rootstocks. The grapes were hand-harvested, chilled to 8°C overnight, sorted, then destemmed into tank with some whole
clusters for a 8 - 17 day cold soak. All of the 43 different parcels were batch-fermented with indigenous yeast. Hand- plunged then
transferred direct to French oak barriques post ferment for 10 months (32% new). Winemaker Rod Easthope. Unfined and lightly filtered,
suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Alc 14.4%, TA 5.6g/l, pH 3.52. Waitrose Wine Direct and 3 branches.

Juicy and fresh pinot on the nose. Sweet, vanilla-flavoured palate. Lovely fruit. Expensive, though.

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