Brightwater Vineyards Te Kahu Pinot Noir 2015
This recent release from Brightwater Vineyards is a stunning follow-on wine from their trophy winning 2014 Pinot Noir. Simply oozing floral aromas and packed with rich berryfruit flavours of dark cherries, a burst of crushed raspberries in the finish just adds to the enjoyment. For me this is another 4 ½ star wine from a producer that seems to just keep getting better every year.
The winery says:
This wine is from grapes grown on our sustainably certified Nelson vineyards in Hope and Kina. On both sites the vines were carefully shoot thinned and leaf plucked to give the berries optimum exposure to the sun. Slow to ripen bunches were removed by hand thus ensuring the grapes were perfectly ripe at the time of picking.
In the winery the grapes were carefully taken off their stems and left cold to soak for a period before fermentation. A warm ferment on the skins with careful cap plunging by hand enabled us to extract optimum varietal colour and flavour.
The wine was then aged in french oak barriques for eleven months prior to bottling. This allowed the tannins and oak to integrate fully with the ripe fruit flavours, creating this elegant and vibrant Pinot Noir.
Te Kāhu is the Maori name for the native hawks that fly above our vineyards chasing off the other birds that would like to eat our grapes.
“A supple Pinot Noir displaying dark cherry, savoury and leather characters. It is fresh and vibrant combining bright cherry and plum flavours with well integrated ripe tannins, a velvety round palate and a long concentrated finish.”
Vintage
2015
Variety
Pinot Noir
Region
Nelson
Producer
Brightwater Vineyards
Contributors
Colour
Aroma
Date tasted
5 Aug 2016
RRP
$28