Holm Oak Pinot Noir 2008

NOTES

Holm Oak Vineyards was established in 1983, and takes its name from the Holm Oak trees planted on the property. The vineyard is owned by Ian and Robyn Wilson and is leased by Rebecca and her partner Tim Duffy. Rebecca is a qualified winemaker and Holm Oak is one of the few smaller family owned wineries who produce and make their own wines on site. This allows for greater individuality of the wines as Rebecca has full control of the wines from the vineyard through to the bottle. The individual attention that she is able to devote to each parcel of fruit ensures that each wine has its own unique personality.

Rebecca is a qualified winemaker with 10 years of winemaking experience including vintages in McLaren Vale Coonawarra, Napa Valley. She most recently worked at Capel Vale Wines in Western Australia where she was senior winemaker. Tim is an agronomist with extensive viticultural experience. He was born and bred in Nyah, near Swan Hill in Victoria, and his family have a long and successful viticultural history.

TASTING NOTES

Perfect conditions during flowering and fruit set resulted in a higher than average yield in 2008. However, due to a warm to hot summer with few rain events we were able to pick our Pinot at perfect ripeness and with no disease. The Pinot was fermented in several small batches in open fermenters which were hand plunged up to 5 times daily. 60% of the wine was wild fermented and approximately 10% whole bunches were added to the ferments. The wine was pressed directly to barrel with approximately 15% new French oak and the remainder in 1 – 3 yr old French oak. The wine underwent MLF in barrel; it was then racked and returned to barrel where it matured for approximately 9 months prior to bottling.

The 2008 Pinot has fresh vibrant aromas of strawberry and cherry on the nose with an underlying earthy, spicy aroma which will continue to evolve with age. The palate is rich, silky and supple with fantastic fruit weight and depth.