This was an excellent vintage pinot noir with modest crop levels of beautifully ripened fruit, which has given the wine excellent depth and concentration.  It was made entirely naturally using traditional Burgundian methods, without the addition of any micro-organisms.  It was matured in French oak barriques for 18 months prior to blending and bottling. 

On release the wine has a deep carmine colour.  The bouquet and flavours evoke impression of black cherries, purple plums, blackberries and raspberries.   Beneath these is a savoury underlay of black olives, liquorice, grilled mushrooms and proscuitto.  There is a dense core of ripe fruit which is coated with fine-grained, velvety tannins.  It is robust, but refined and savoury/spicy overtones linger in the after-taste.  Although it is ready to drink on release, with careful cellaring it will become more complex and multifaceted over the next 6-8 years and live well beyond.

The spring and early summer were warm and very dry.  A brief torrential downpour in mid-February staved off a looming drought and the rest of the growing season was very good for pinot noir.  The fruit was well exposed so that some intermittent autumnal humidity was handled without difficulty and the fruit was beautifully ripe and clean when picked.

Waipara was buffeted by frequent strong winds in late spring and early summer which coincided with the period when the grapes were in flower.  It impaired pollination and thus quite markedly reduced the crop level.  The rest of the summer, however, was excellent and the autumn was warm, dry and lingering.  We were thus able to harvest beautifully ripened grapes in optimum condition.

The growing season was longer than usual as mild, spring weather resulted in early bud-burst, but was followed by cool nights which prevented excessively rapid growth.  We had good accumulation of summer heat and a long, dry autumn.  Harvest was, as usual, in April. The fruit was beautifully physiologically ripe when picked, but yet had good levels of natural acid without excessive concentration of sugar...

The whole growing season was ideal apart from the period when the vines were in flower.  This was the coldest and wettest December Waipara has ever experienced and as a result the number of berries setting was extremely low, resulting in the smallest crops we have seen.  Because of this the wine has extra concentration and depth...

A mild spring was followed by extremely hot weather over the early and middle part of summer. Initially we thought the season might be too hot for pinot noir but the latter part of summer was quite cool, bringing things back into balance. The autumn was dry, lingering and warm...

Cool weather during the flowering reduced the “set”, which resulted in a small crop of grapes on the vines. The rest of the growing season was excellent and the autumn was long and warm, so that the grapes were harvested in optimal condition. The berries were initially cooled to allow a period of prefermentation “vatting”...

The growing season was special in that there was overall good heat summation without extremes of temperature and the autumn was dry, warm and very prolonged. This lead to very even ripening with the development of true cool climate varietal flavours and retention of good levels of natural acidity...

The vines were carefully trained by hand so that the leaves and bunches were fully exposed to the sun. This included the removal of all leaves which might shade the grapes. Such careful attention to detail ensured good physiological maturation in the fruit.