Stoneleigh Rapaura Series Marlborough Pinot Noir 2020

Stoneleigh Rapaura Series Marlborough Pinot Noir 2020French oak Black Doris plum Blackberry Silky tannins "A youthful, vibrant and varietal bouquet with intense aromas of fresh dark cherry and barrel spices, moments of raspberry and plum then a fine savoury and smoky oak complexity. Equally vibrant on the palate with flavours of plums and dark berries and barrel spices. Firm tannins with a coarse silk and chalky texture, a core of fruit with contrasting acid line. A young wine that will benefit from

• French oak
• Black Doris plum
• Blackberry
• Silky tannins

"A youthful, vibrant and varietal bouquet with intense aromas of fresh dark cherry and barrel spices, moments of raspberry and plum then a fine savoury and smoky oak complexity. Equally vibrant on the palate with flavours of plums and dark berries and barrel spices. Firm tannins with a coarse silk and chalky texture, a core of fruit with contrasting acid line. A young wine that will benefit from some cellar time with best drinking from mid to late 2022 through 2028" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Sep 2021

"From a single vineyard at Rapaura, this very youthful, full-coloured red is full-bodied and savoury, with ripe cherry, plum and spice flavours, showing good complexity, and a structured, moderately firm finish.  Best drinking 2023+" Michael Cooper, Sep 2021

The wine shows layers with initial perfumed vanilla notes that opens to have Black Doris plum and vibrant blackberry notes. Toasty oak also features. The palate is savoury, rich and warm and inviting with perfumed dark brooding fruit, blackberry and black doris plum flavours, with finely integrated charry oak. Layers of complexity coupled with finely textured silky tannins round off the palate. This wine is best enjoyed young but could be cellared over the next six years.

This single vineyard range takes the best elements of Stoneleigh and adds in a number of extra dimensions resulting in refined, premium quality wines with more complexity which deliver the most intense expression of Marlborough. This range takes its name from the distinctive stony soils on which the Stoneleigh vineyards are located.

The 2015 season was a very dry season. The beginning of the growing season recorded mainly average temperatures before summer turned on the heat. Above average temperatures lasted from mid-December until to the second week of February. There was only a short period of respite before both March and April delivered above average temperatures as well during ripening and harvest. With the crops all at moderate levels thanks to the average temperatures over the flowering period, we enjoyed a very compact harvest. The first fruit was harvested on 2nd March for sparkling wine and the last fruit on the 12th of April.

The Stoneleigh vineyard sites are located on the northern side of the Wairau Valley, in close proximity to the mighty Wairau River. Often referred to as the ‘Rapaura Series’ of soils, they are characterised as young soils, based on river silts and stones. These soils tend to be low in nutrients and have poor waterholding capacity. A key feature is the prevalence of smooth sunstones that reflect the sun’s heat onto the grapes, and enhance ripening. For Stoneleigh Rapaura Series Pinot Noir we used mainly clone 777 as well as UCD 5 and 667 which were predominantly on Couderc 3309 rootstocks. The vines were trellised using spur pruning and VSP system with 2 canes laid down. The vines are 16 to 18 years old. the sun’s heat onto the grapes, and enhance ripening.

The grapes were hand-harvested in small batches between the 14th to 20th March 2016 once the flavour potential was maximised. The grapes were destemmed into small fermenters and cold soaked for up to five days. Fermentation was carried out using all Natural or “Wild” yeast. The wine was drained to fine grained oak and matured for ten months. Malolactic fermentation was carried out in barrel. The winemaker then blended the clonal material, different coopers, oak ages and forests to achieve the Single Vineyard Stoneleigh Rapaura Series Pinot Noir style.

This wine was matured in 42% new French oak barrels and 44% one year old French oak barrels. The wines selected for this blend showed delightful charry highlights from the barrels used.

Food Pairing: With its distinctive dark berry fruit characters and sophisticated palate weight, this wine is the perfect match for flame grilled rib-eye steak served with a redcurrant jus, or a seared venison loin with wild mushrooms risotto.