2014 Yealands Winemakers Reserve Pinot Noir, Awatere Valley Marlborough

Four parcels from the Seaview Vineyard were selected for this wine. Seaview Vineyard in the Awatere Valley is exposed to some of the toughest growing conditions in Marlborough; high sunshine and wind, cool nights and low rainfall which produces a smaller, thicker skinned berry with intense fruit flavours. The wine brings together in harmony the diverse spectrums of the blocks; the warmer sites contributing the expressive aromatics and the cooler sites giving the mineral backbone and length.

Winemakers notes:

Regular hand plunging has helped to craft a wine with elegance and balance. 10% of the blend was whole bunch fermented in a small format French oak Cuve. The wine was aged for 12 months in French barriques in a selection from my favourite coopers, 15% of which were new.

The classy, powerful yet elegant 2014 vintage was estate-grown on an elevated (180 metres above sea level), north-facing slope in the Willowflat Vineyard and matured for a year in French oak barriques (15 per cent new). Deep ruby, it is fleshy, concentrated and supple, with very generous plum/spice flavours, complex and savoury. A rich, harmonious and very 'complete' wine, it should be at its best 2017+