2023 Nomads Garden ‘Greenacres Vineyard’ Pinot Noir, Alpine Valley
Handmade – Hand plunged – Gently pressed – No acid or enzymes added – Natural wild yeast ferment – Barrel aged nine months on lees – Unfined
Single Vineyard – Greenacres Vineyard, Alpine Valley ///// Grower - Brian “Bri” Llewis
The grapes for this wine arrive from one of the most passionate, salt of the earth growers we know; Brian “Bri” Llewis. His spectacular Greenacres Vineyard in Merriang South is deep in an isolated valley of the sprawling Alpine Valleys GI. It’s so cool up there that it’s not unusual for it to snow over the winter period.
Unlike many Pinot Noir vineyards in the North East, this vineyard is dedicated to table wine, not sparkling, which means Bri crops it at a much lower level. We often joined him in the vineyard to closely monitor and follow the development of flavour and acidity. A long dry autumn allowed us to leave the fruit out a little longer to develop extra flavour which was deemed optimal at a Baumé of 13.3.
Much like 2021 and 2022, 2023 was a very cool and mild growing season. Flavour developed early, but a long dry autumn allowed us to let the fruit reach a higher Baumé whilst still retaining natural acidity and vitality. The addition of whole bunches was less than usual, but we did so as the stems didn’t brown off like they normally would; a result of the mild weather. Yields were average and quality was excellent, delivering us 535 dozen in 2023.
Once in the winery, the fruit was chilled for 24 hours before we split it into two separate ferments.
Ferment 1: Dijon Clone 667 – for this, we gently destemmed 90% as to retain whole berries, then left the remaining 10% as whole bunches for a lift of aromatics. We undertook a 36-hour cold soak and then allowed the batch to warm and ferment naturally. It was gently pumped over once daily for 5 minutes and we watched as its temperature rose to a warm 32c by the end of its cycle. The wine was pressed away from its skins on day 16.
Ferment 2: MV6 Clone – A similar approach to Ferment 1, except that 100% of the batch was gently destemmed but not crushed; we did not retain any whole bunches. It was similarly sent to a 36-hour cold soak before natural fermentation was allowed. We gently hand plunged daily to limit extraction and pressed directly to seasoned French oak after 16 days on skins.
Following fermentation, the two portions were combined in a tank and then sent to seasoned (average six-year-old) French oak, where it sat maturing for seven months on full lees.
Vegan friendly, Gently filtered before hand bottling onsite December 2023.
