Wairarapa Pinot Noir

Tasting Notes

Making a great Pinot Noir is no easy task and we maintain the utmost precision when making The Flying Winemaker Pinot Noir. The result is an aromatically pretty wine, reminding one of pure elegance and beauty. The nose is bright and fresh with cherry and plum notes, smoky toast and dried herbs. The palate is dense with red fruits and cherry notes. Subtle oak gives weight to the mid-palate and the wine finishes soft, silky tannins.

90 Points | "Cedarwood oak sits obvious in the wine but it makes for pretty seductive drinking. Cherry-plum flavours sit fresh and fleshy in the wine, along with smokey reductive notes, before the fanciness of the oak takes over." - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

Winemaker's Notes

This wine is curated from younger vine parcels that are varietally expressive and able to sing the right notes of Pinot Noir characteristics. We look for lots of dark plum and cherry notes, which aren't masked with oak, to show off dark and wildly fruity flavours that are plush on the palate with silky tannins. Our key to the success of this range is simplicity and honesty. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we're sticking with what works to make this wine taste awesome. - Eddie McDougall

Winemaking

The fruit is destemmed into 2-tonne fermentation tanks with about 70% of the fruit left as whole berries. As far as possible, all clones were vinified separately to give the maximum expression of each clone’s unique character. We applied a cold soak period of 3–5 days followed by spontaneously started ferments. All batches received a post-soak of between 2–3 weeks, with plunging done by hand to ensure a soft extraction of tannins. We then pressed off the batches and matured them in French oak barrels (25% new) for 10 months, each with its own balanced oak regime of barrel age and choice of coopers.

A mix of wild and inoculated fermentation in open fermenters are plunged at least twice daily. Malolactic fermentation and maturation take's place in barrels for 10 months, with racking occurring twice prior to bottling preparation. The use of seasoned oak is preferred here to ensure the wine is displaying a pure, unadulterated and perfumed Pinot Noir that represents the Wairarapa region.

Technical Sheet

Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir

Vineyard: Gladstone

Region: Wairarapa

Alcohol: 14%

About The Range

Winemaking without borders while ultimately aiming to express the honest flavours of individual grape varietals. Each wine produced under this range is a benchmark example of grape, place, and maker.

With an ambitious and pioneering spirit, we thrive on discovering and expressing the finest terroir — getting the best from every grape with minimal intervention. The results are exceptional wines, crafted with passion and precision so you too can experience the journey, one sip at a time!