Description

Viticulture: Lutte raisonee/sustainable, in transition to no synthetic chemical use. No synthetic herbicide.

Doug’s Vineyard is situated on the outskirts of the township of Romsey, in the Macedon Ranges. Owned by the Newnham family it was planted 20 years ago to predominantly MV6 and smaller amounts of 114 and 115 clone pinot noir. A cool hamlet, the vines sit at around 500m altitude, atop a North and North East facing hillside on red rocky volcanic basalt soil, moderating vigor and providing amazing intensity to the fruit, ripening small, beautifully formed clusters at low sugar levels.

Once hand harvested in the cool of morning, with careful sorting in the vineyard, 100%is usually transferred as whole cluster to open fermenters. The must was then allowed to soak 4-5 days at its cool ambient temperature until fermentation commenced. There after the grapes were gently extracted by a combination of pumping over and pigage by foot. The wine then pressed after a total of three weeks on skins and transferred to a single new (Laurent ‘Magic Cask ” thick stave, blonde toast) three young (2-4yo Laurent ‘Magic Cask “) and eight old (6-10yo) oak Burgundian piece for lees aging for 12 months, followed by six months in stainless steel on fine lees. Before racking and bottling, unfined and unfiltered. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur the week before bottling.

– Winery Note