2024 R.P Pinot Noir

The RP Pinot Noir (RP – Robyn Pamela) is in recognition of the matriarch. It is not only the support and goffering that Robyn has endured for Gary’s 40-year career. She has been in the vineyard and planted the first vines, driven the tractors, filled barrels and pigeaged at midnight. If we are ever a man down Robyn has always been the first one we have called to fill the void no matter the job, or time of day. You can always count on mum.

The fruit for this wine is sourced from the Côte Vineyard as is the GC Chardonnay. A close planted / high density planting of Pinot Noir on a exposed côte. These hillsides consist of the most suitable clones, rootstocks, trellising and management you will find for our landscape. The North côte is a red to brown loam with buckshot stones across the surface. The most exposed of the three côtes but is harvested last because of the large amount of clay, holding valuable moisture for a longer time than the other slopes. The Northeast côte is a continuation of buckshot until the soil becomes black and lined with limestone moving towards the bottom of the rows and a depression that divides limestone from sandstone. At the highest point of the vineyard is small amounts of sandstone in the grey sandy loam. The East côte is divided through the centre of the slope by a rise. Black volcanic soil with fragmented limestone in one direction and grey loam with buckshot stones in the other direction. Soil is King as the East côte has the least amount of clay and therefore water holding capacity resulting in it being harvest first even though it is the coolest côte of the three.

The fruit is hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard, then fermented in an open-top fermenter. Between 40-50% of the fruit will be stemmed, then cold soaked for 4 days. Only natural yeast for the fermentation process, which takes roughly 19 days. Grape-stomping (known as pigeage) will occur 2-3 times a day depending on the amount of extraction required, and the wine is then placed in 50-60% new Allier barrels by gravity. It is racked by gas after secondary fermentation, then again at 18 months to be bottled.