Pinot Noir of various different clones from the Tonimbuk site, including 777, D27, 114,115 D5V12, MV6 and Pommard
45 year old vines make this one of the oldest pinot vineyards in Victoria. The vines are cane-pruned and grown on weathered granite in a spectacular and isolated location. We have farmed this site organically since 2019 when we began leasing it.
The vineyard sits on the valley floor surrounded by 50,000 hectares of state forest. Comprised of old volcanic hills and large granite outcrops. It is the gravels and sediments of these features that have slowly made their way down to form the base that these vines now grow from.
In the vineyard the first and foremost was to farm the site completely organically. Organic inputs such as fly larvae compost, straw mulch under vine and compost tea applications were implemented immediately.
In the winery excluding the use of oak (any age at all) was at the top of that list. Add nothing whatsoever to the wines was an equal second. And excluding any manipulation of the must during fermentation was also an important step.
Essentially the process was .. 100% hand destemmed fruit into a single fermenter, cold soaked and then left for approximately 10 days after ferment began. Pressed to stainless steel where the wine remained until bottling.
There was no movement of the tank, no racking, no pumps, no adds at any stage.
The result I think speaks for itself. A truly elegant & complex wine which has beautiful cohesion and restraint.
The fine mineral structure it has is very reflective of the quartz granite it has its roots in and the volcanic hills that surround.
This has been resting in bottle now for over 2 years as it was always my intention to never rush the Nikau wines.
It is now poised, elegant and ready to go!
About Nikau Farms
Dane Johns has carved a formidable reputation making some of Australia's best natural wines. His hugely popular Momento Mori wines have a cult following and it's not hard to see why. The Nikau Farms wines are from Dane and Hannah's Gippsland vineyards.
They operate with the ideology of creating wines that first and foremost respect the living and are wines that they like to drink and share. They farm two sites one on the steep hills of Strezelecki Ranges in Gippsland and another beneath the Black Snake Ranges in the Tonimbuk valley.
Farmed strictly with organic principles and a appreciation of the living and dynamic environment around them. Nikau Farm wines are all very small batch with no use of new oak or mechanical pumps used on the wines, no fining or filtering and no additions apart from occasionally a tiny amount of S02 at bottling.
Snapshot
Region: Gippsland, VIC
Country: Australia
Alcohol: 12%
Vintage: 2022
Size: 750ml
Closure: Cork
Varietal: Pinot Noir
