Yarra Valley Estate Grown Pinot Noir 2010
Region
Yarra Valley, De Bortoli Estate Grown
Appearance
Vibrant red with garnet hues.
Bouquet
Elegant Pinot Noir fruit aroma with red currants, cherry and raspberry with subtle spice and forest floor.
Palate
Medium bodied but building weight across the palate. Richly textured, long and fine with gentle but obvious tannin.
Vintage Conditions
The 2009 – 2010 growing season saw our earliest budburst for some time. Timely rainfall in early summer gave the vineyard some relief from a dry winter and spring. Conditions for ripening were ideal with warm days and cool nights. The fruit was hand picked in the cool of the morning.
Winemaking
Fruit is sourced from from four estate vineyards planted in 1971, 1987, 1990, 1994 and 2002. Vines are cane pruned to 25 buds per vine and shoot thinned at the 10-15cm stage so that there are no more than18 bunches per vine. The vines are hand picked into 8kg buckets and transported to the winery. The fruit is then hand sorted and destemmed to 6 tonne open fermenters. Fermentation proceeds naturally with ambient yeast from the vineyard and winery. After 21 days maceration and fermentation, the wine is carefully drained to tank and allowed to rest for 24 hours. The clear wine was then racked via gravity to French oak casks for 10 months.
Wine Analysis
Alc/Vol: 13.0 % pH: 3.69 TA: 6.2 g/L
Cellaring
Will continue to develop complexity and interest for up to 10 years if stored in a good cellar.
Suggested Cuisine
Try with Quails wrapped in bacon or Duck with lentils.
General Characteristics
Dry Medium Bodied
Best Pinot
"There’s a lovely complexity shared between vibrant and perfumed cherry fruit, five spice, plum and some savoury, earthy tones. The gloriously light bodied palate is a soothing eiderdown of tannin, a touch of sour plum fruit and gentle spice. The acid profile is nicely balanced and it persists with depth ensuring you’ll go back for more. Loved it so much the bottle seemed to disappear far too quickly."
Patrick Haddock, Wining Pom, December 2011
"Having just won Best Wine at this years National Wine Show. The De Bortoli team is on quite a roll. This wine is every bit as good as the PHI, not to mention a steal perfumed pretty push and textured, this soft seductive pinot noir comfortably sits beside the best this country has to offer."
Matt Skinner, The Age, December 2011
"Vibrant red with garnet hues, this elegant wine displays fruit aromas of red currants, cherry and raspberry, with subtle spice and forest floor. The palate is medium-bodied but builds in weight. Richly textured, the finish is long and fine with gentle but obvious tannin."
Nick Ryan, Gourmet Traveller Wine, December 2011
5 Stars
95 Points
"A serious pinot of great complexity and nuance, displaying clean and stylish cherry, plum, vanilla and fresh-earth aromas. The palate is softly fleshy and has very good extract. It's the antithesis of tutti-frutti pinots. Beguiling stuff."
Huon Hooke, Gourmet Traveller Wine, December 2011
93 Points
"Deeply flavoured, elegant and savoury, this firm and textural pinot is fruit-reliant and modestly oaked. Wild and floral with a heady perfume of black and red cherries, redcurrants and briar, it reveals earthy, rose garden-like suggestions of briar and spice. Long and finely crafted, with a firm, chalky palate of deep cherry, plum and berry flavour, it finishes fresh and bright."
Jeremy Oliver, The Australian Wine Annual 2012, October 2011
95 Points
"Is this the most important pace-setting Pinot in the country? With such haunting perfume, a waft of rose petal, bright red cherry and pink peppercorn palate and silky tannins, it is this year."
Tyson Stelzer, Wine 100, August 2011
Copyright 2008 De Bortoli Wines. All Rights Reserved.
