Misha's Vineyard The High Note Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019

Misha's Vineyard The High Note Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019French oak Violets & roses Cinnamon Silky tannins "It's sweetly fruited and seductively savoury at the same time, showing dark cherry, vanilla, dried herb, toasted spice and hazelnut characters on the nose. It's wonderfully weighted and richly layered on the palate, offering terrific fruit intensity combined with refined mouthfeel, leading to an impressively long velvety finish. At its best: now to 2029" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Nov 2020 "Classic floral

• French oak
• Violets & roses
• Cinnamon
• Silky tannins

"It's sweetly fruited and seductively savoury at the same time, showing dark cherry, vanilla, dried herb, toasted spice and hazelnut characters on the nose. It's wonderfully weighted and richly layered on the palate, offering terrific fruit intensity combined with refined mouthfeel, leading to an impressively long velvety finish. At its best: now to 2029" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Nov 2020

"Classic floral varietal aromas of violets and roses, combined with exotic notes of orange zest and cinnamon, the elegant sweet-fruited palate is balanced by gentle silky tannins" Olly Masters, Winemaker

The 2019 season was a typical Central Otago season in terms of heat but what was unusual was the high rainfall and a lack of the north-west spring winds. The heavier spring rains encouraged vigorous canopy development requiring vigilance to ensure short interval spray programs were maintained to prevent any disease. Conditions for flowering and fruit set were ideal for Misha’s Vineyard with a mild autumn with perfect weather to enable ripening. However, it was a very mixed season across the region with vineyards impacted by severe frosts early and late in the season. This was certainly a year to be thankful for steep slopes and a frost-drained vineyard site. Growing Degree Days (GDDs) were 1149 and the fruit was hand-picked at an average of 6.3 tonnes per hectare.

Misha’s Vineyard is located on a spectacular site in New Zealand on the edge of Lake Dunstan in the Bendigo sub-region of Central Otago. The sun drenched north-west facing terraces of the 57 hectare estate provide optimal conditions for producing world-class Pinot Noir and aromatic white varieties. Our ‘no compromise’ philosophy requires exacting viticulture regimes, hand-picking, and considerate winemaking methodologies.

The fruit was chilled overnight before crushing the next day typically as 1.5 and 4 tonne lots. The crushed fruit was then cold soaked for 5-7 days after then allowed to warm as the natural yeast ferment took place. An average of 6% whole bunch component was included. Cooling was used to ensure the ferments peaked below 32ºC. The wine was then held warm (15-20ºC) post ferment to allow ongoing tannin integration. After an average of 27 days on skins the wines were then pressed to tank where they were settled for 1–2 days before being racked into French oak hogsheads (25% new 300 litre barrels). The wine was inoculated for malolactic fermentation which took place in the following spring, then racked out of barrels and filtered prior to bottling in February 2020.

Food Pairing: This Pinot Noir is very versatile and great with lamb, venison and veal, and a large range of vegetable dishes especially mushrooms. It is also the perfect accompaniment to game birds such as quail, pheasant, turkey and duck.