Otago Crown 2003
Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir

The wine has a deep red/black colour and displays ripe fruit (cherry/plum) and herbal aromas overlying a leathery, forest floor complexity. The palate is medium bodied with a round mid palate and firm tannins. The finish is lean and has moderate length.  The fruit was picked at the beginning of May 2003 after long ripening period. A diverse range of clonal material (5, 6, 113, 115, 777, 10/5 and Mariafelder) was used in creating this single vineyard wine.  The vineyard has soils that range in depth from a few centimetres to over half a meter, all of which lie over free draining schist gravels synonymous with Central Otago region.The wine was fermented in small vats with an average “time on skins” of 15 days before being pressed and transferred to barrel. After 11 months the wine was removed from barrel and gently filtered before being bottled in March 2004.

Winemaking data at bottling:
Alcohol 14.5 %
Acidity 6.7 g/l
pH 3.6
Free Sulphur dioxide 20 mg/l