2009 Pinot Noir the Jory Hills Vineyard

TASTING NOTES
Medium-ruby color with a hint of garnet. Candied cherries and red currants on the nose as well as earth, straw and lilac. The palate matches the nose while adding tones of cedar, rosemary, and eucalyptus. Cherry cola, dried plums and some peppery spice linger on the finish. The wine is fresh and vibrant with good acidity balanced by chalky tannins and will age well for 7 to 9 years. We recommend holding for 1 to 2 years, or decanting an hour before serving if opened earlier.

Pairs well with a summery salmon burger, or winter favorites like traditional rabbit stew and lamb Shepherd’s pie.

 

VINTAGE

The 2009 vintage started with a slightly delayed budbreak in the third week of April. After swift canopy growth from mid-May to June, full bloom ensued by June 18th, resulting in a healthy fruit set. By July, summer heat spells hastened fruit development and seed hardening. By executing a strategic leaf pulling program, we were able to delay exposing the fruit, despite the potential for sunburn damage, which was minimal compared to other sites in the valley where pulling was heavy and early. The growing season provided ample vegetative growth with a focus on maintaining a contained canopy, guiding the plant from green growth to fruit growth. Our clusters were abundant in number and plump with the start of veraison, from August 5th, onward. With appropriate hedging and fruit thinning, we managed to keep our target yields. The fruit matured progressively with very little fruit rot and increasingly lower yield, as dehydration set in. Harvest began on September 21st with Terres Basses and ended on October 12th. The overall quality of the fruit was exceptional with full, heavy clusters, good color, and an ideal balance of sugars and acids.

 

VINEYARDS

The Jory Hills Vineyard, first planted in 2002, is located in the Red Hills of Dundee and takes its name from the soil on which the grapes are grown. Today it has 24.8 acres of Pinot Noir split between Dijon Clones 114, 115, 667, 777, 828, and Swan. Unlike the Willakenzie soils, the structure is volcanic with basalt as the underlying substrate. The vineyards are planted in an East-West orientation at a density of 2,400 plants per acre on Phylloxera-resistant rootstock with drip irrigation throughout.

Yield:  2.3 tons per acre / Brix:  24.5° / pH:  3.45 / T.A.:  6.2

 

WINEMAKING

The 2009 Jory Hills Vineyard Pinot Noir is our third separate bottling from our Dundee vineyard. It is a barrel selection of the best grapes in the vineyard including 114, 115, 667, 777, 828 and Swan. The grapes were kept for several days in our unique Cold Storage Facility at 35 degrees Fahrenheit before being processed in our gravity flow winery, where they underwent a classic cold soak, fermentation, and regime of punchdowns and pumpovers, before being aged for 13 months in French oak barrels, 35% percent of which were new.

Alcohol:  14.2% / pH:  3.75 / T.A.:  5.1