Production Notes – Moss Wood 2008 Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir

Production Notes: Harvest dates Clone 114 – 8th March Clone 115 – 8th March Harvest Ripeness Clone 114 – 13.2 Baume Clone 115 – 12.7 Baume

Given our many years of experience in producing Pinot Noir, we were reasonably confident about the technique we should employ in Mornington. We discussed possible variations but in the end used the same specifications we use to make the Margaret River wine.

That said, there are some significant differences and they, in turn, are driven by the differences in climate and vineyard site. So our biggest focus was in the vineyard. At Mornington, the evolution of the fruit flavours proceeds relatively slowly and so patience was required as we waited for the greener fruit notes to be lost. This also meant that we had to be flexible about the harvest ripeness and while we set a preferred Baume for picking, we were mindful of the need to change.

Our first concern was slower rate of seed maturity mentioned earlier and we watched with interest as they gradually became crunchy at around 12 Baume. Interestingly, their flavor was still more like coconut than coffee bean.

We also monitored the profile of fruit aromas. In the early stages there is a distinctly fresh herb character resembling coriander and bay leaves and which is not particularly attractive. This progresses into more dried herbs, similar to cumin and sits quite nicely with the cinnamon-like spices that appear later. The berry-like aromas commence as a delicate red fruit like strawberry and progress through quince jelly into cherries, plums and wild berry jubes. Our plan required us to pick after the green herbs have been lost but before the berry fruits become confectionery, with the associated loss of acidity and freshness.

In 2008, these various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle began to fall into place once ripeness passed 12 Baume and eventually we settled for a pick at approximately 13. The fruit was then hand harvested and then destemmed into both open and closed fermenters. The choice of the closed option gave us a chance to look at the impact on wine style although this was since been discontinued with the 2009. In both fermenter types, the must was chilled and held for cold soaking for 72 hours then they were allowed to warm up and seeded with pure yeast culture. Fermentations were carried out at higher temperatures, with a maximum set at 30C and open tanks were hand plunged up to four times per day and closed tanks gently pumped over twice per day. Once ferment was completed, the different batches were tasted each day to monitor tannin balance and once this was achieved the wines were pressed and racked to stainless steel. After settling they were then racked off gross lees and into barrel, where they completed the malolactic fermentation. They were then racked and adjusted and the two clones were blended for the first time and then the finished wine was returned to barrel.

All the barrels were French oak barriques and 40% were new. We used the opportunity to trial a range of coopers, based on our experience at Moss Wood, with the intention of fine tuning our choices for future Mornington wines as the impact of each one became clear.

At the end of May 2009 the wine was racked from barrel and fining trials were carried. We trialed various agents, none of which added improvement, so the wine was left unfined. It was then sterile filtered and bottled on 16th June 2009.