Burn Cottage Central Otago Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019

On the nose, layers of aromatic redcurrant, bright cherry and floral notes are underpinned by savoury hints of tea, earth and fern. The palate is vibrant and focused, supported with seamless balance. The concentrated flavours are well-balanced with silky, fine-grained tannins and crunchy acidity, bringing great finesse to this wine.

To find suitable plots for planting, 60 soil pits were dug and 10 Pinot Noir clones were selected with five different rootstocks tailored to the different soil profiles. The soils in the vineyard are derivatives of broken down schist and granite, classified as free draining sandy loams. In the lower elevations the soils are slightly heavier and on the steeper slopes the soils are much more rocky and gravelly. Most of the terrain is made up of old river beds pushed up by glacial movements. Burn Cottage has the unique distinction of being the first and only Central Otago estate that has been biodynamic since day one, Ted Lemon’s one stipulation for his involvement.

The winemaking at Burn Cottage reflects biodynamic principles with low intervention. There is no addition of yeast or bacteria for fermentation, sulphur use is minimal and there is no filtration before bottling. Fermentation of the Pinot Noir grapes lasted for 20 days with 13% kept as whole bunches. The wine was aged in oak barrels (a mixture of Damy, Mercurey and Sylvain), 24% of which were new.