The harvested fruit is given around 10 hours of skin contact before being cooled and pressed into stainless steel tanks. A partial press with heavier solids goes into old puncheons. Batches are then racked and warmed before being fermented with selected aromatic yeast strains and given extended lees contact for greater palate weight and texture.
Two parcels were made from machine-harvested fruit, the free-run fermented in stainless steel while the pressings were fermented and matured in used oak, very careful blending necessary. Bright bronze-pink, once described as the eye of a partridge by English wine writers. The smoky, musk and rose petal bouquet is followed by a textured, balanced palate of very good quality.
93 points, James Halliday, Wine Companion, December 2018.
